' 


, 


THE   LIFE  OF  JOHN   PEXDLETON   KENNEDY. 
By  HENRY  T.  TUCKERMAN. 

Forms  a  truly  valuable  addition  to  the  already  affluent  stories  of  American  hi- 
ography.  It  will  place  the  friend  of  Irving,  Prescott  and  Everett  in  his  true  po 
sition  by  their  side.— N.  Y.  Tribune. 

Mr.  Tuckerman  paints  his  character  in  well-considered  colors.  We  commend 
the  volume  to  professional  politicians,  and  those  who  may  be  cultivating  the  pre 
cisely  opposite  type  of  character. — N.  Y.  Independent. 

This  volume  is  very  pleasant  reading. — Boston  Daily  Advertiser. 

Marked  by  all  the  author's  delicacy  of  feeling,  grace  of  style  and  subtle  recog 
nition  of  intellectual  gifts. — N.  Y.  Evening  Post. 

It  is  able  and  artistic.  Is  there  one  among  Southerners  who  comes  out  so 
much  of  a  man — complete  and  rounded  and  so  entirely  entitled,  in  his  many  re 
lations  to  society,  to  our  respect  and  admiration  '?  His  home,  which  comes  out  so 
delightfully,  his  geniality,  good  and  cultivated  sense,  are  charming ;  such  homes 
we  have  known  and  enjoyed,  but  are  too  rare.  We  feel  to  Mr.  Kennedy,  after 
having  devoured  the  volume  at  three  sittings,  like  a  friend  and  near  acquaintance 
of  his  whole  circle.  As  a  book  full  of  patriotic  sentiments  it  must  live,  and  we 
hope  be  reproduced  for  the  benefit  of  thousands  that  come  after  us. — Boston 
Transcript. 

There  is  one  pleasant  feature  of  the  work  both  original  and  seasonable  ;  as  a 
beautiful  domestic  interior,  this  memoir,  offers  a  rare  and  winsome  example.— 
Home  Journal. 

Just  such  a  biography  as  every  public  man  would  like,  but  such  as  very  few 
deserve.— Golden  Age. 

KENNEDY'S  LIFE,  in  one  handsome  volume,  Pi-ice  $2.    Now  Beady. 
KENNED  Y' S  NO  VELS,  4  vols.    Price  $8. 

HORSE-SHOE  ROBINSON,  $2.25.  ROB  OF  THE  BOWL,  $2. 

SWALL  0  W  BARN,  $2.  Q  UODLIBET,  $2. 

KENNEDY'S  LIFE  OF  WIRT,  [Two  vols.  in  one,  $3.]    2  vols.,  $4. 
KENNEDY'S  POLITICAL  AND  MISCELLANEOUS  WORKS,  3  vols. 
KENNEDY'S   WORKS  AND  LIFE,  Complete,  10  vols.  Wmo,  $20  Cloth,  or  $40 
Half  Calf,  extra. 

G.  P.  PUTNAM   &   SONS, 

4th  Avenue  and  23d  Street,  New  York. 


POLITICAL  AND  OFFICIAL  PAPERS. 


POLITICAL 


AND 


OFFICIAL  PAPERS. 


BY 


JOHN    P.  KENNEDY. 


NEW  YORK: 
G.   P.   PUTNAM    &    SONS. 

ASSOCIATION    BUILDING. 

1672. 


Entered  according  to  Act  of   Congress,  in  the  .year  1871,  by 

THE  EXECUTORS  OF  JOHN  P.  KENNEDY, 
in  the  Office  of  the  Librarian  of  Congress  at  Washington. 


STEREOTYPED  BY  LAN«K,  LITTLE  &  HJLLMAN, 

WILLIAM  MCCREA  &  CO.,  PBWT.BS, 

NEWBUBGH,  N.  T.  108  *  114  WOOSTEB  ST.,  N.  V. 


CONTENTS. 


PAGE. 

A  Review  of  Mr.  Cambreleng's  Report  from  the  Committee  of 
Commerce,  in  the  House  of  Representatives,  at  the  First 
Session  of  the  Twenty-first  Congress 9 

Address  of  the  Friends  of  Domestic  Industry,  assembled  in  Con 
vention,  at  New  York,  October  26,  1831,  to  the  People  of  the 
United  States.  (Drafted  by  a  Committee  of  which  Mr.  Kenne 
dy  of  Baltimore  and  Mr.  Dulton  of  Massachusetts  were  mem 
bers.)  87 

Strictures  on  the  letter  of  Charles  J.  Ingersoll,  Esq.,  Touching  the 
Right  of  a  Legislature  to  repeal  a  Charter.  With  an  Appendix, 
Containing  the  Letters  of  Mr.  Ingersoll,  of  Mr.  Dallas,  of  Mr. 
Forward,  and  of  Mr.  Biddle,  in  illustration  of  the  subject  dis 
cussed  138 

Speech  delivered  in  the  House  of  Representatives,  on  the  22d  and 

23d  June,  1838,  in  the  Debate  on  the  Sub-Treasury  Bill 184 

Speech  on  the  Bill  making  appropriations  for  the  Civil  and  Di 
plomatic  Service  for  the  year  1839.  Delivered  in  the  House 
of  Representatives,  February  19,  1839 228 

Letter  to  his  Constituents,  citizens  of  the  Fourth  Congressional 
District  in  the  State  of  Maryland,  on  the  Principles  and  Value 
of  the  Protective  System 267 

^Defence  of  the  Whigs :  The  Whig  Party  :  Its  Origin,  Its  Constan 
cy,  Its  Success 317 

Counter  Report  from  the  Select  Committee  on  the  Currency,  to 
the  House  of  Representatives,  United  States,  February  17, 
1842...  .  451 


M555479 


8  CONTENTS. 

PAGE. 
Extract  from  his  Report  as  Secretary  of  the  Navy.     Explorations 

and  Surveys 497 

The  Border  States  :    Their  Power  and  Duty  in  the  Present  Disor 
dered  Condition  of  the  Country 543 

The  Great  Drama — An  Appeal  to  Maryland 587 

Letter  on  the  Annexation  of  Texas 604 


POLITICAL    PAPEKS. 


A  EEYIEW 


MERGE,    IN    THE    HOUSE    OF    REPRESENTATIVES,    AT   THE 
FIRST  8E88ION  OF  THE  TWENTY-FIRST  CONGRESS. 


I  follow  thee,  like  a  trusty  servitor,  but  to  entice  thee  from  thy 
nimble  and  crafty  wanderings,  into  a  surer  path  of  truth.  The  time 
lacks  an  honest  devil.  Thou  canst  not  say  I  flatter. — Old  Play. 


THE  Report  from  the  Committee  on  Commerce,  in  the 
House  of  Representatives,  at  the  present  session,  is  the 
last  in  a  series  of  assaults  which  have  been  made  upon  the 
protective  system  of  this  country,  and  being  prepared  with  great 
care  and  industry,  and  adopted  by  certain  interests  in  the 
Union,  with  an  exulting  acclamation,  it  may  fairly  claim  to  be 
considered  the  manifesto  of,  what  is  called,  the  free-trade 
party.  The  city  of  New  York  has  been  thrown  into  convul 
sions  of  joy  by  this  masterly  and  concentrated  blow  at  the 
American  system  : — it  is  the  coup  de  grace  given  by  young  Da 
vid  to  the  Philistine,  and  the  host  are  ready  to  sing  the  Non 
JVobis,  on  the  occasion  of  the  victory. 

To  us,  who  are  at  a  distance  from  this  fervor,  who  have 
nothing  to  fear  from  the  contagion  of  opinion,  and  nothing  of 
interest  to  inflame  us  on  the  question,  it  is  left  to  make  up  our 
minds  merely  upon  the  merits,  which,  it  will  be  admitted  upon 


10  POLITICAL    PAPERS. 

a  perusal  of  the  report,  are  hut  a  feeble  auxiliary  to  the  cause 
of  the  good  people  of  Gotham,  compared  with  the  ardor  prava 
civium  jubentium, — the  authoritativeness  of  the  Exchange,  and 
the  wisdom  of  Wall  Street.  Indeed,  from  all  that  we  can  learn 
upon  the  subject,  the  author  of  the  Report  has  already  dis 
credited  the  Scriptures,  and  gained  more  honor  as  a  prophet 
in  his  own  country  than  he  is  likely  to  acquire  out  of  it. 

Mr.  Cambreleng  professes  to  be  a  disciple  of  the  school  of 
Mr.  Huskisson.  He  adopts  his  tone,  borrows  his  thoughts, 
reasons  on  his  premises,  believes  his  facts,  and  concludes  with 
his  advice.  Whatever  Mr.  Huskisson  conceives  to  be  saluta 
ry  in  English  policy,  Mr.  Cambreleng  conceives,  in  the  same 
terms,  to  be  wholesome  in  American.  The  Report  is  calcu 
lated  to  answer  the  purposes  of  the  British  Ministry,  in  many 
respects,  better  than  Mr.  Huskisson's  speeches.  In  all  the 
outward  and  visible  signs  of  statesmanship  the  two  politicians 
are  as  much  alike  as  Dromio  of  Syracuse  and  Dromio  of  Eph- 
esus  : — but  in  the  particular  of  principle  and  postulate,  of  ab 
stract  opinion  and  relative  policy,  there  are  scarcely  to  be 
found  two  individuals,  separated  by  the  sea,  of  more  incongru 
ous  elements.  Mr.  Huskisson,  with  the  address  of  a  wily 
minister,  has  given  a  false  lead,  which  Mr.  Cambreleng  fol 
lows,  in  no  wise  doubting ;  and,  from  the  state  of  the  game, 
it  is  quite  apparent  that  the  American  has  walked  into  the  trap 
which  the  Englishman  has  set  for  him. 

To  explain  this,  it  is  necessary  to  say  something  of  this 
much  talked  of  doctrine  of  Free  Trade,  a  doctrine  which  we 
have  always  found  ourselves  much  puzzled  to  define.  We  un 
derstand  it  only,  as  a  beautiful  abstraction ;  a  systematic  re 
solving  of  things  into  a  state  of  nature  ;  an  equalization  of 
human  appetites,  passions  and  interests  ;  an  interminable  con 
fraternity,  existing  in  unimaginable  harmony,  and  moving  to 
the  music  of  the  spheres  :  an  anticipated  millennium  of  peace 
on  earth,  and  good  will  to  men  :  the  polity  of  More's  Utopia 
and  Rabelais'  Medamothy.  Mr.  Huskisson  and  the  Edinburg 
Review  have  obscurely  hinted  that  this  wonder  has,  at  length, 


REVIEW    OF    CAMBREL  EXG.  11 

made  a  lodgement  in  Great  Britain.     And  Mr.  Cambreleng 
believes  them  !* 

In  Great  Britain,  then,  it  becomes  a  tangible  thing,  and  we 
may  hope  to  form  a  more  intelligible  opinion  of  its  nature  and 
attributes,  by  a  reference  to  the  British  system.  Free  trade, 
in  this  view  of  it,  may  be  said  to  be  comprehended  in  the  fol 
lowing  leading  maxims. 

1.  To  exclude  from  the  home  market  all  competition  in 
such  commodities  as  they  can  produce  or  manufacture. 

2.  To  feed  their  own  people,  entirely  with  their  own  prod 
ucts,  though  at  double  -the  cost  that  they  could  be  fed  by  for 
eigners. 

3.  To  take  nothing  from  abroad  but  what  they  cannot  do 
without. 

4.  To  nurse  their  manufactures,  first,  for  the  sake  of  the 
home  market,  and  secondly,  for  the  sake  of  commerce. 

5.  To  secure,  by  the  most  rigid  laws,  the  transportation  of 
their  own  products   in  their   own  vessels,  and  to    use  every 
stratagem  to  get  the  carriage  of  the  products  of  other  nations. 

We  may  add  as  a  sixth  maxim, 

To  use  all  kinds  of  means  to  persuade  the  world  to  adopt 
exactly  the  opposite  policy  ;  and  especially  to  humbug  Amer 
ican  wiseacres  with  dissertations  upon  free  trade. 

It  would  not  occur  to  the  people  of  the  United  States,  after 
reading  Mr.  Cambreleng's  report,  that  such  are  the  fundamen 
tal  articles  of  the  British  faith  ;  and  as  it  is  necessary  to  have 
this  matter  understood,  in  order  that  our  learned  chairman's 
encomiums  may  be  properly  valued,  we  shall  take  a  little  time 
to  prove  what  we  have  said. 

*  "  Great  Britain  has  granted  commercial  liberty  to  her  vast  em 
pire  at  home  and  abroad,  and  has  taken  a  new  start  in  the  race  of  na 
tions."  Report,  p.  21.  "  Her  naval  ascendancy  gives  her  all  the  ad 
vantages  of  free  trade,  by  her  dominion  over  the  commerce  of  the 
world  :  in  peace  she  secures  all  its  privileges  by  abolishing  restrictions 
and  opening  as  far  as  she  can,  by  her  oicn  laics,  every  avenue  of 
trade."  Ib.,  p.  26. 


12  POLITICAL    PAPERS. 

Mr.  Huskisson's  speeches  afford  us  a  full  exposition  of  all 
his  doctrines  of  free  trade,  and  will  enable  us,  therefore,  to  de 
termine  how  far  we  have  departed  in  our  policy,  from  his  great 
improvements  in  legislation.  His  speech  of  March  25,  1825, 
explains  his  plan  of  reducing  the  duties.  Here  he  states  in 
very  plain  language,  his  object  to  be,  to  recommend  altera 
tions  in  the  duties  "  levied  upon  the  importation  of  materials 
employed  in  some  of  our  principal  manufactures,  and  also  in 
the  prohibitory  duties,  now  imposed  upon  the  manufactured  pro 
ductions  of  other  countries,  so  far  as  they  shall  be  found  not 
inconsistent  with  the  protection  of  our.  own  industry."* 

Beginning  with  the  cotton  manufactures,  Mr.  H.  sets  out 
with  the  broad  declaration — which  we  deem  important  to  be 
considered — "  that  by  the  cheapness  and  quality  of  our  goods,  we 
undersell  our  competitors  in  all  the  markets  of  the  world"  With 
this  enunciation,  he  thinks  that  the  duties  of  67 T  and  75  per 
cent,  by  which  this  manufacture  had  been  fostered,  might  now, 
with  safety  to  the  manufacturer,  be  reduced  as  low  as  10  per 
cent.  He  affirms  that  under  this  protection  of  75  per  cent, 
this  branch  of  industry  had  risen  to  maturityf — that  their  ex- 


*  In  our  remarks  upon  Mr.  Huskisson's  alleged  free-trade  system, 
we  confine  ourselves  to  the  design  and  scope  of  his  measure  ;  his  pro 
fessed  object  being  to  propose  a  system  efficient  to  every  purpose  of 
protection.— We  are  aware  of  the  mischiefs  produced  by  some  of  the 
details  of  his  plan,  and  especially  in  regard  to  the  silk  trade,  which 
has  been  so  much  boasted  as  a  victory  of  the  free-trade  principle ; 
although  that  trade  experiences  at  his  hand  a  degree  of  encourage 
ment  that  we  should  consider  ample  to  most  of  our  manufactures. — 
It  has,  however,  produced  its  unlooked-for  distresses,  as  the  late  suf 
ferings  at  Spitalfields  and  Coventry  will  testify.  But  for  the  present, 
we  deal  with  Mr.  H.'s  principles,  not  his  acts. 

f  It  may  be  a  little  edifying  to  our  statesmen  to  learn  from  Mr. 
Huskisson  his  opinion  of  this  75  per  cent.  It  may  teach  us  how  to 
estimate  the  notions  of  the  trans-Atlantic  champions  of  Free  Trade. 
Speaking  of  the  woollen  manufacture,  he  says,  "  this  favorite  child, 
like  other  favorites,  has  suffered  rather  than  profited  by  being  spoil 
ed  and  petted  in  rearing,  while  its  younger  brother  of  cotton,  coming 
into  the  world  much  later,  has  thriven  better  by  being  much  more  left 


REVIEW    OF    CAMBKELENG.  13 

ports  of  cotton  had  increased  in  sixty  years  from  .£200,000  to 
.£30,795,000 ;  and  that  it  was  no  longer  necessary  to  subject 
it  to  any  other  restriction  than  10  per  cent. — that  amount  be 
ing  equivalent  to  the  duties  levied  upon  the  raw  materials  em 
ployed  in  the  fabric.  But  this  10  per  cent,  is  to  be  added  to 
the  amount  of  any  internal  duty  on  printed  cottons,  and  no 
drawback  to  be  allowed. 

In  the  woollen  manufacture,  the  duties  varied  from  50  to  67^ 
per  cent.  These  he  thought,  for  the  same  reasons  that  opera 
ted  upon  his  mind  in  reference  to  the  cotton,  might  be  reduced 
to  15  per  cent. 

In  the  manufacture  of  linens,  Mr.  Huskisson's  plan  em 
braces  a  reduction  to  25  per  cent,  over  and  above  the  amount 
of  any  internal  duty  of  excise. 

The  reduction  generally  proposed  in  the  duties  upon  man 
ufactured  metals,  is  to  30  per  cent,  upon  glass  to  20  per  cent, 
above  the  excise,  except  in  the  case  of  bottles,  which  are  sub 
ject  by  Mr.  H.  to  a  duty  of  about  85  per  cent.  The  common 
porcelain  ware  he  proposes  to  reduce  from  75  per  cent,  to  15  ; 
the  painted  or  gilt  to  30. 

Such  is  Mr.  Huskisson's  scheme  in  regard  to  the  principal 
manufactures  of  Great  Britain,  and  this  is  trumpeted  abroad  as 
a  concession  to  the  principles  of  free  trade  !  In  reference  to 
the  great  mass  of  these  manufacturers,  he  distinctly  avows  his 
conviction,  that  they  are  already  secured  from  all  foreign  com 
petition,  and  that  there  is  not  the  remotest  possibility  of  their 
home  market  being  interfered  with.  Indeed,  the  extreme  so- 

to  rough  it  and  make  its  own  way  in  life."  Truly,  a  most  ill-favored 
bantling  !  Only  75  per  cent,  protection  !  Alas  for  our  own  progeny  ! 

Mr.  H.'s  allusion  to  the  pampering  of  the  woollen  manufacture  will 
be  intelligible,  by  referring  to  the  various  forms  in  which  British 
legislation  has  been  extended  to  its  protection,  but  more  particularly 
to  the  act  imposing  an  additional  duty  on  imported  wool,  by  which, 
it  is  said,  the  manufacture  received  a  shock  that  has  nearly  proved 
fatal  to  it.  Let  our  Southern  friends  learn,  that  their  cotton  is  am 
ply  assured  to  them  by  this  experiment. 


11  POLITICAL    PAP  Mil*. 

licitucle  with  which  Mr.  H.  treats  the  protection  of  the  British 
manufacture,  ought  forever  to  preclude  those  who  pretend  to 
advocate  his  principles,  from  bringing  his  reduction  of  duties 
into  our  view  at  all.  It  is  most  apparent  that  his  object  is  the 
very  reverse  of  Mr.  Cambreleng's.  If  his  purpose  were  free 
trade,  why  have  we  these  discriminations,  ten  per  cent,  upon 
cotton,  fifteen  upon  wool,  and  twenty-five  upon  linen  ?  And 
why  this  constant  avowal  that  he  has  ascertained  that  these 
rates  are  sufficient  to  secure  to  Great  Britain  the  supply  of  her 
own  market  ?  His  scheme  is  not  to  buy  where  goods  are 
cheapest,  but  to  excite  the  greatest  competition  compatible 
with  the  preservation  of  their  home  and  their  foreign  markets, 
and  to  foster  the  manufacturing  interest  by  a  system  of  legis 
lation  that  shall  encourage  it  to  its  most  profitable  expansion. 
As  to  the  operation  of  this  new  tariff  upon  those  manufactures 
which  make  the  wealth  and  prosperity  of  England,  it  is  as 
harmless  as  a  permission  extended  to  all  the  world  to  carry 
coals,  free  of  duty,  to  the  port  of  Newcastle.  Mr.  Cambrel- 
eng  would,  perhaps,  consider  this  another  concession  !  But 
until  Mr.  Huskisson  shall  proclaim  that  a  rising  and  prosper 
ous  manufacture  shall  be  sacrificed  to  the  freedom  of  com 
merce,  and  that  the  temporary  inconveniences  which  the  coun 
try  might  sustain  in  rearing  up  a  new  system,  that  is  to  be  a 
source  of  wealth  and  power  to  all  after  ages,  are  to  outweigh 
the  great  reversionary  benefits  of  the  scheme,  we  cannot  admit 
that  any  aid  has  been  supplied  to  that  destructive  theory,  which 
has  captivated  its  professors  by  the  name  of  free  trade.  • 

Upon  the  score  of  injury  sustained  by  the  manufactures 
in  the  heavy  duties  annexed  to  the  introduction  of  the  raw 
materials,  Mr.  H.  adopts  a  principle  that  in  its  whole  scope 
and  bearing  is  essentially  protective.  The  reductions  proposed 
by  him,  on  this  branch  of  imports,  are  at  least  judicious  in  their 
purpose,  and  may  be  salutary  in  the  detail — we  are  not  dis 
posed  to  question  them — but  in  no  instance  are  any  reductions 
recommended  without  inculcating,  in  the  most  explicit  manner, 
that  cardinal  point  in  his  policy — the  immense  value  of  the 


REVIEW    OF    CAMBRELENG.  15 

home  supply  and  the  consequent  importance  of  fostering  the 
domestic  manufactures,  and  giving  them  the  ascendancy 
abroad.  Such  notions  are  distinctly  enforced  in  the  following 
remarks  upon  the  introduction  of  crude  copper.  "  These  pro 
hibitory  duties  have  already,  in  my  judgment,  been  attended 
with  serious  injury ;  they  have  prevented  copper  not  only  in  an 
unmanufactured,  but  in  an  imperfectly  smelted  state,  from  com 
ing  into  this  country.  This  metal  exists  in  great  abundance 
not  only  in  several  parts  of  Europe,  but  also  in  some  of  the  new 
States  of  America.  It  would  have  been  sent  here  as  it  used  to 
be,  in  an  imperfect  state,  in  payment  for  British  manufactures. 
Here  it  would  have  undergone  the  process  of  purifying,  of  roll 
ing,  or  of  being  otherwise  prepared  for  consumption,  by  the 
means  of  our  superior  machinery,  had  it  not  been  kept  away  by 
impolitic  restrictions.  They  operated  as  a  bounty  upon  the 
transfer  of  our  capital  to  other  countries,  and  as  a  premium  to 
encourage  the  inhabitants  of  those  countries  to  do  for  them 
selves  that  which,  greatly  to  our  advantage,  we  should  other 
wise  have  continued  to  do  for  them.  At  the  same  time,  I  am 
aware  that  considerable  capitals  have  been  invested  in  our  cop 
per  mines  under  the  encouragement  given  by  the  present  mo 
nopoly,  and  how  difficult  it  is  to  do  all  that  the  public  interest 
would  require  without  injury  to  those  particular  interests. 
This,  in  almost  every  instance,  is  the  most  arduous  task  which 
a  sense  of  public  duty  has  imposed  upon  me.  In  the  present 
case,  however,  I  believe  that  I  may  safely,  and  I  hope  with  ad 
vantage  to  both  parties,  propose  to  reduce  the  duty  on  copper 
from  ,£54  to  ^27  a  ton,  without  committing  myself  not  no  re-c 
ommend  at  a  future  period,  even  a  further  reduction,  if  it  should 
appear  that  the  present  limit  is  not  sufficient  to  enable  our  man 
ufacturers  to  preserve  their  foreign  market,  and  that  at  a  lower 
rate  of  duty  no  great  or  sudden  check  would  be  given  to  the 
British  mines."* 

*  So,  too,  in  regard  to  Iron  Mr.  Huskisson,  stating  the  inadequacy  of 
the  home  supply, and  commenting  upon  the  injurious  effects  of  the  duty 
on  tlie  unmanufactured  commodity,  asks,  "  Is,  there  no  risk  or  danger 


16  POLITICAL    PAPERS. 

The  same  protective  principle  is  conspicuous  in  his  policy 
towards  the  silk  trade.  The  duties  on  the  raw  material  were 
from  4J-.  to  5^.  ^\d.  a  pound  on  raw  silk — and  14^.  8*/.  per  Ib. 
on  organzine  or  thrown  silk : — the  consequence  was,  as  stated 
by  Mr.  H.,  that  the  French  manufacturers  who  had  their  silk 
either  altogether  free  (being  a  home  product)  or  subject  to 
about  Af\d.  per  Ib.  on  what  they  imported,  were  enabled  to  pro 
duce  the  manufactured  article  cheaper,  by  this  amount  of  duty.* 
He  proposes,  therefore,  a  reduction  on  raw  silk  to  $d.  per  Ib., 
and  on  the  organzine  to  js.  6d.  The  consideration  which  gov 
erned  the  reduction  on  the  organzine  is  in  keeping  with  the 
rest  of  his  system  ;  it  was  confessedly,  to  protect  the  interests 
of  the  throwsters  who,  it  was  affirmed,  would  have  been  in 
jured  by  a  further  reduction.  To  this  was  added  also  a  re 
moval  of  the  prohibition  upon  manufactured  silks,  and  a  duty 
ranging  from  33  to  70  per  cent,  ad  valorem  substituted  for 
their  protection.  The  duties  were  reduced  also,  upon  the  dye- 
stuffs  used  in  this  manufacture,  and  throughout  the  whole 
course  of  legislation  upon  the  question,  every-  idea  of  what  we 
understand  by  free  trade  was  repudiated — the  express  and 
earnestly  inculcated  object  being  the  encouragement  and  pro 
tection  of  the  manufacture. 

It  would  be  charging  an  immeasurable  absurdity  upon  the 
British  Government,  if  we  could  suppose  that  in  the  event  of 
the  home  manufacture,  by  this  experiment,  being  unable  to 
contend  against  the  foreign,  they  would  not  increase  their 
duties  to  a  standard  adequate  to  that  end.  It  would  be  at 
war  with  every  intelligible  idea  that  they  have  heretofore  pro- 
fa?  our  hardware  manufacturers  at  Birmingham  and  Sheffield  ?  Can 
they  execute  orders  which  they  receive  from  abroad  if  iron  continues  at 
its  present  price  or  is  to  rise  still  higher?  how  many  thousand  work 
men  will  be  thrown  out  of  employ  if  this  branch  of  trade  be  lost  to  this 
country  f" 

*  "  These  duties  added  about  25,  30,  and  40  per  cent,  on  the  prime 
cost  of  the  different  species  of  silk  on  which  they  were  respectively 
imposed. — Ed.  Review,  Nov.  1825. 


REVIEW   OF    CAMBKELENG.  17 

mulgated  upon  the  subject.  Great  Britain  has  never  been 
known  to  abandon  a  valuable  manufacture  because  it  required 
protection. 

But,  it  may  be  asked,  if  Mr.  Huskisson's  moderated  duties 
are  still  equivalent  to  prohibitions,  in  the  large  portion  of  the 
manufactures  referred  to,  why  are  the  duties  reduced  at  all  ? — 
We  answer,  that  a  lower  rate  of  prohibition  operates  as  a  stim 
ulus  to  industry  better  than  a  higher  one,  because  it  lowers  the 
mark  to  which  the  tide  of  foreign  competition  and  skill  must 
rise  in  order  to  flow  in  upon  the  home  market,  and  therefore 
keeps  the  industry  of  the  country  always  upon  the  watch  to 
excel  its  neighbors ; — it  is  a  safeguard  against  inattention  and 
carelessness,  while  at  the  same  time  it  is  full  and  perfect  pro 
tection.  There  is  another  reason.  Mr.  Huskisson  considers 
that  in  the  present  vigor  of  British  manufactures,  a  duty  of 
thirty,  fifty,  or  seventy  per  cent,  generally  adequate  to  every 
purpose  of  protection,  and  yet  sufficiently  low  to  prevent  smug 
gling  in  the  few  articles  of  foreign  manufacture  which  fashion 
or  caprice  have  brought  into  request ;  articles  inconsiderable 
in  quantity  and  sought  for  only  by  the  richest  classes  of  the 
Kingdom.  As  he  has  himself  expressed  it,  "  some  fancy  mus 
lins  from  India,  some  silk  stuffs,  some  porcelain  from  France, 
— objects  for  which  curiosity  or  fashion  may  create  a  demand 
in  the  metropolis :"  and  which,  as  he  assures  us,  "  will  not  in 
terfere  with  those  articles  of  more  wide  and  universal  con 
sumption  which  our  own  manufactures  supply  cheaper  and 
better."  These  are  regarded  as  concessions  of  trifling  amount 
to  the  opulent.  Their  bulk,  too,  is  small,  and  the  facilities  of 
introducing  them  very  great,  while  the  trouble  of  searching  for 
them,  the  vexation  of  being  searched,  and  the  expense  of  the 
surveillance  which  is  necessary  to  detect  them,  are  not  com 
pensated  by  the  value  of  the  discovery: — the  game  is  not 
worth  the  candle.  The  government  has  therefore  consented 
to  their  introduction  at  high  rates,  while  it  is  certain  that  the 
quality  excluded  is  by  far  the  greatest  in  quantity  and  the  most 
worthy  of  protection. 


18  POLITICAL   PAPERS. 

As  to  the  other  articles  upon  which  the  reduced  duties 
take  effect,  it  is  not  pretended  that  any  nation  has  an  interest  to 
make  the  effort  to  introduce  them  :  their  age  and  their  prosperity 
place  them  beyond  assault.  Whether  cottons  are  rated  at  ten 
or  ten  hundred  per  cent,  the  prohibition  is  just  the  same.  "  It 
is  not  as  deep  as  a  well,  nor  as  wide  as  a  church  door — but  it 
is  enough  : — it  will  serve." 

Mr.  Huskisson  gives  us  another  reason  for  this  apparently 
nugatory  measure,  which  indicates  a  deeper  knowledge  of  the 
materials  he  has  to  work  upon  abroad,  than  we  should  at  first 
have  attributed  to  him — a  reason  that  seems  to  have  been 
well  sown  when  it  fell  upon  Mr.  Cambreleng.  "  It  is  time," 
says  Mr.  H.,  "  to  consider  if  there  be  no  inconvenience,  no 
unfitness,  no  positive  injury  to  ourselves,  no  suspicion  and 
odium  excited  in  foreign  countries,  by  duties  which  are  abso 
lutely  prohibitory — or,  if  the  articles  to  which  they  attach,  ad 
mit  of  being  smuggled — which  have  no  other  effect  than  to 
throw  the  business  of  importing  them  into  the  hands  of  the 
smuggler."  He  might  have  added,  what,  by  the  way,  is  pretty 
plainly  insinuated — that  the  reduction  might  look  like  homage 
to  the  free-trade  illusion,  and  have  power  to  persuade  wise 
American  statesmen  of  the  sincerity  of  Great  Britain  in  sup 
port  of  a  system  about  which  she  has  been  perpetually  talking, 
and  concerning  which  she  has  universally  agreed  to  make  no 
substantial  sacrifice  :  it  might  induce  unlearned  and  dull  rivals 
to  go  and  do  likewise,  in  circumstances  where  the  imitation 
of  the  example  would  be  something  more  than  substituting 
one  dead  letter  for  another. 

With  what  success  this  argument  may  be  urged,  let  the 
Chairman  of  the  Committee  of  Commerce  and  the  exulting 
citizens  of  Gotham  answer  !  The  British  shadow  becomes,  in 
the  hands  of  Mr.  Cambreleng,  a  thing  of  life  ;  and  what  on 
one  side  of  the  water  is  but  a  "  gentle  sucking  dove,"  roars,  on 
the  other,  like  the  true  lion,  and  is  instinct  with  an  active  prin 
ciple  of  mischief. 

It  is  only  necessary  to  read  Mr.  Huskisson's  speech  on  the 


REVIEW    OF    CAMBRELENG.  10 

subject  of  the  colonial  policy  (March  21,  1825),  to  make  out 
the  rest  of  the  points  which  we  have  brought  into  our  defini 
tion  of  the  English  notions  of  free  trade.  This  speech  breathes 
the  same  desire  to  protect  the  interest  of  Great  Britain  and  her 
colonies  against  all  foreign  competition,  and  his  remarks  are 
characterized  by  the  same  ardent  resolve  to  support  the  pro 
tective  system.  His  object  is  to  assist  the  northern  colonies 
against  the  influence  of  the  rivalry  of  the  United  States,  but  in 
no  respect  whatever,  does  he  admit  the  idea  that  trade  was  to 
be  regulated  by  the  principle  of  unrestricted  reciprocity.  In 
one  particular  his  words  are  remarkable,  as  the  subject  has 
brought  him  to  consider  a  question,  which  we  have  a  thousand 
times  asked  the  friends  of  British  free  trade  to  solve  for  us, — 
namely :  Why  are  not  the  markets  of  England  opened  to  our 
grain  ?  We  quote  from  the  speech  : 

"  The  measure  which  I  have  to  propose  in  respect  to  Can 
ada  appears  to  me  to  be  no  more  than  ah  act  of  common  jus 
tice  to  that  colony.  It  is  simply  this — to  admit,  at  all  times, 
the  corn  of  that  country  into  our  consumption,  upon  the  pay 
ment  of  a  fixed  and  moderate  duty.  When  it  is  considered 
that  corn  is  a  staple  of  that  colony,  I  cannot  conceive  of  a 
greater  act  of  injustice,  than  to  have  declared,  to  a  part  of  our 
own  empire,  as  much  entitled  to  protection  as  any  other  part 
of  it,  that  against  that  staple  the  markets  of  this  country  were 
closed.  How  are  the  Canadians  to  pay  for  the  supplies  which 
they  have  drawn  from  this  country  ?  Is  it  fitting  that  when 
they  make  their  remittances  in  this  staple,  they  should  do  so 
without  being  able  to  know  whether  it  can  be  received  here  ? — 
Whether  it  is  to  remain  in  warehouse,  unavailable  and  unpro 
ductive,  and  at  a  ruinous  expense  for  five  or  six  years,  depend 
ing,  for  its  admission  into  our  market,  upon  the  fraction  of  a 
half-penny,  according  to  the  average  price  in  our  markets  for 
a  few  preceding  weeks ;  that  average  influenced  by  the  con 
flicting  tricks  and  artifices  of  the  home  grower  and  home  deal 
er  ;  the  result  of  which  cannot  be  known  in  Canada  for  many 
months  afterwards?"  Might  we  not  ask  the  champion  of 


20  POLITICAL    PAPERS. 

British  free  trade,  why  does  not  Mr.  Huskisson's  interrogatory 
apply  to  this  country  ?  Are  there  not  the  same  considerations 
operating  upon  us  ?  We  may  ask  Mr.  Cambreleng  to  give  us 
the  answer  why,  in  his  brotherhood  of  nations, — his  reciprocal 
interchange  of  liberal  systems, — and  his  magical  circle  of  free 
trade, — these  points  are  not  as  freely  to  be  urged  in  our  favor, 
as  in  that  of  Canada  ?  Will  he  assure  us  that  the  removal  of 
these  restrictions  fall  in  with  Mr.  Huskisson's  plan  ?  The 
British  statesman  has  not  even  winked  at  such  a  thought.  His 
policy  seems  to  us  an  unadulterated  example  of  the  good  old 

rule, 

That  lie  shall  take  who  lias  the  power, 
And  lie  shall  keep  who  can. 

It  was  even  proposed  as  an  objection  to  Mr.  Huskisson's 
system  in  favor  of  Canada,  that  a  removal  of  the  restrictions 
upon  this  branch  of  the  trade  of  the  colony,  might,  perchance, 
let  in  some  of  the  forbidden  American  product  by  our  northern 
frontier.  What  was  his  reply  ?  It  is  a  decisive  comment  on  all 
the  refined  speculations  of  Mr.  Cambreleng  and  the  whole 
host  of  British  authorities  from  which  he  has  taken  his  opin 
ions.  It  expounds  the  whole  debated  question  of  British  free 
trade.  "  He  should  be  quite  willing  to  adopt  any  method  ne 
cessary  to  prevent  the  fraudulent  mixing  of  the  United  States' 
corn  with  the  corn  of  Canada" — "  that  with  a  view  of  remov 
ing  all  cause  of  alarm  and  giving  an  adequate  security  against 
the  fraudulent  introduction  of  Canada  (American)  wheat,  he 
should  propose  as  a  clause,  by  way  of  rider,  that  there  should 
be  the  same  certificate  of  origin  as  in  the  case  of  sugar." 
He  was  willing  to  rate  the  production  of  Canada  at  a  cer 
tain  amount,  and  consider  all  beyond  that  amount  as  Amer 
ican. 

In  accordance  with  his  views  of  the  colonial  policy,  Mr. 
H.  proposed  to  admit  flour  from  the  Canadas  at  about  five 
shillings  the  quarter ;  timber  at  from  five  to  twelve  per  cent 
and  tobacco  at  twenty.  The  duty  on  the  first  of  these  com 
modities  coming  from  the  United  States,  is  left  almost  at  total 


REVIEW    OF    CAMBRELENG.  21 

exclusion  ;  and,  upon  the  remaining  two,  at  a  rate  ranging  be 
tween  five  hundred  and  fifteen  hundred  per  cent ! 

Now  we  do  not  mean  to  condemn  the  policy  of  Great  Brit 
ain's  opening  an  unrestricted  intercourse  with  her  own  domin 
ions — (although  we  think  Mr.  Cambreleng  has  but  a  poor  case 
of  free  trade  among  the  countless  restrictions  of  the  British 
colonial  possessions*), — its  natural  tendency  would  be  what 
Mr.  C.  has  stated  it — an  increase  of  the  navigation  of  the  col 
onies  ;  but  we  cannot  perceive  what  aid  this  furnishes  to  the 
propagation  of  the  free-trade  system.  We  have  always  under 
stood  this  mystical  blessing  to  look  to  the  intercourse  of  one 
nation  with  another.  For  free  as  Mr.  Cambreleng  pretends 
Great  Britain  has  made  the  trade  with  her  colonies,  it  is  nothing 
compared  with  the  entire  disenthralment  of  that  between  our 
own  maritime  States — which  trade,  by  the  by,  Mr.  Cambreleng 
has  very  seriously  undertaken  to  prove  has  been  languishing 
in  this  pure  atmosphere  of  freedom :  of  this,  however,  here 
after.  But  until  Mr.  Huskisson,  or  some  other  English  minis 
ter  shall  consent  to  remove  the  impediments  that  embarrass 
our  intercourse  with  that  nation,  we  have  at  least  a  right  to 
claim  the  benefit  of  the  example  in  practice,  and  of  the  fact  in 
the  argument. 

Such  are  the  lights  which  British  doctrines  and  British  prac 
tice  afford  us  in  our  inquiry  after  the  nature  and  attributes  of 
free  trade.  Truly,  the  thing,  when  found,  looks  marvellously 

*  The)7  protect  the  tea  of  the  East  Indies  by  a  restriction  that 
costs  the  people  of  Great  Britain  something  upwards  of  two  millions 
sterling  per  annum.  In  turn,  they  levy  a  duty  upon  the  sugar  of 
these  possessions  to  protect  the  markets  of  the  West  Indies ;  while, 
again,  these  latter  are  excluded  from  all  the  benefits  of  an  enlarged 
commerce,  in  order  to  favor  the  Canadas,  which  of  late,  have  been 
blessed  with  the  gift  of  &free  trade.  In  sooth,  she  is  a  most  discrim 
inating  mother !  And  Mr.  Cambreleng  thinks  this  last  measure  of 
grace  has  been  conceded  to  the  principles  of  Adam  Smith  !  So  far  as 
it  is  the  means  of  stabbing  at  the  prosperity  of  the  United  States,  it 
is  the  measure  of  the  ministry.  What  of  it  belongs  to  the  free-trade 
doctrine,  is  an  idle  coincidence. 


22  POLITICAL    PAPERS. 

like  our  protections :  and  we  wonder  that  the  free-trade  gentle 
men  of  America,  who  profess  to  follow  Mr.  Huskisson,  should 
abandon  their  leader  at  the  most  striking  point  in  his  philoso 
phy  ;  that  which,  of  all  others,  seems  to  be  the  tenderest  object 
of  his  solicitude,  the  prosperity  of  the  manufactures.  Mr.  Hus 
kisson  is  a  competent  and  authentic  witness  on  the  subject, 
and,  we  are  free  to  say,  that  we  are  willing  to  stand  by  the 
award  of  his  testimony.  We  believe  that  a  better  illustration 
of  that  gentleman's  doctrines  could  not  be  afforded,  than  in 
the  policy  inculcated  by  the  manufacturing  interests  of  the 
United  States. 

In  this  exposition  of  the  British  system,  it  will  be  seen  how 
minute  is  the  resemblance  between  the  measures  of  Mr.  Hus 
kisson  and  Mr.  Cambreleng ;  and  how  true  is  the  assertion  of 
the  honorable  chairman,  that  we  have  been  adopting  the  pro 
hibitory  policy  just  at  the  time  that  our  rival  is  "substituting 
free  trade  for  restrictions."  We  cannot  but  admire  the  fidelity 
with  which  the  likeness  is  preserved  between  these  giants  of 
free  trade  on  either  side  of  the  Atlantic.  Mr.  Huskisson  takes 
away  a  nugatory  prohibition  :  Mr.  Cambreleng  follows  suit  and 
is  for  taking  off  a  necessary  protection.  Mr.  Huskisson  thinks 
that  free  trade  consists  in  carrying  British  manufactures  all 
over  the  world  :  Mr.  Cambreleng  thinks  so  too.  Mr.  Huskis 
son  talks  about  opening  their  ports  to  the  colonies :  Mr.  Cam 
breleng  talks  of  opening  ours  to  all  nations.  Mr.  Huskisson 
would  take  off  the  duty  from  the  raw  material  in  order  to  pro 
tect  manufactures :  Mr.  Cambreleng  would  do  the  same  thing, 
to  encourage  commerce.  Mr.  Huskisson  expatiates  upon  free 
trade,  at  the  very  instant  that  he  is  riveting  the  fetters  upon 
it :  Mr.  Cambreleng  is  tickled  with  the  sound  and  expatiates  like 
wise.  Mr.  Huskisson  throws  away  a  counter  :  Mr.  Cambreleng 
a  guinea.  Mr.  Huskisson  falls  to  contriving  snares  for  credu 
lous  rivals  ;  Mr.  Cambreleng  falls — asleep.  The  resemblance 
is  complete.  They  are  as  much  alike  as  Monmouth  and  Mac- 
edon  ! 

We  rather  think  that  Mr.  Cambreleng  must  renounce  his 


REVIEW    OF   CAMBRELENG.  23 

pretensions  to  be  considered  a  pupil  of  Mr.  Huskisson,  or  he 
will  be  obliged  to  confess  that  his  beau-ideal  of  free  trade  is 
not  to  be  gathered  from  the  statute  books  of  England. 

Then,  we  would  ask,  where  shall  we  seek  it  ?  A  great  deal 
has  been  said  of  late  about  this  same  system,  but  is  it  not 
strange  that  with  Adam  Smith  as  current  as  the  Almanac,  and 
Mr.  McCulloh  and  the  Ricardo  chair,  the  Edinburg  Review, 
Mr.  Cambreleng  and  the  City  of  Gotham  "  airing  their  vocab 
ularies"  upon  it  in  all  the  multiplications  of  arithmetic,  and 
saying  it  and  singing  it  through  all  its  moods  and  tenses,  ad 
dressed  to  all  languages,  people  and  nations,  not  one  instance 
is  to  be  found  of  any  one  civilized  community  adopting  and 
pursuing  it  as  a  permanent  policy  ?  If  it  has  ever  been  touch 
ed  it  has  been,  forthwith,  dropped  again  as  something  too  hot 
to  hold.  We  would  seriously  ask  our  friends,  who  are  tilting 
so  manfully  in  this  field,  where  we  shall  look  for  some  exem 
plification  of  their  theory  ?  We  are  difficult  of  persuasion  and 
unwilling  to  trust  to  speculation  in  matters  of  so  much  mo 
ment,  and  we  feel  particularly  distrustful,  with  the  example  of 
Great  Britain  before  our  eyes,  and  our  knowledge  of  her  his 
tory.  We  confess  that  we  would  rather  be  dragged  along, 
than  merely  have  the  way  pointed  out  for  us.  The  land  of 
Adam  Smith,  of  deep  philosophy,  of  profound  inquiry,  and  of 
enlightenment  that  can  take  in  no  more  light,  would  surely, 
before  this,  have  shown  us  some  hot-bed  of  this  new  plant.' 
We  have  seen  her  manufactures  grow  up  to  be  the  marvel  of 
mankind,  and  we  do  not  choose  to  depart  from  the  science  of 
her  machinery.  We  are  not  to  be  cheated  by  her  rhetoric  out 
of  our  respect  for  her  example.  Mr.  Huskisson  may  talk  as 
he  will  about  a  prohibition  reduced  to  a  prohibition  lower  in 
the  table  ;  he  may  attempt  to  mislead  us  by  disproportioned 
commentaries  upon  insignificant  acts,  or  magnify  the  correc 
tion  of  a  plain  abuse  into  an  argument  against  the  use.  We 
cannot  be  deceived.  The  thermometers  of  Reaumer  and  Fah 
renheit  may  indicate  the  same  temperature,  although  the  num 
bers  on  the  scale  are  not  the  same,  and  we  have  skill  enough 


24  POLITICAL    PAPERS. 

to  compute  the  difference,  even  if  Mr.  Cambreleng  overlook 
it.  The  friends  of  free  trade  will  scarcely  turn  us  to  the  ex 
ample  of  Holland  in  1816,  nor  to  Russia  in  1820.*  If  they 
do,  they  will  be  called  upon  to  explain  the  mystery  of  the 
return  of  the  latter  of  those  powers,  after  that  brief  space 
of  trial, — "  ere  those  shoes  were  old" — to  the  antiquated  and 
condemned  systems  by  which  she  previously  marched  on  to 
wealth.  They  will  have  to  explain  the  deep  and  pathetic 
complaints  which  resounded  through  both  of  bankruptcies, 
beggary  and  ruin,  that  marked  the  days  of  the  experiment  ; 
and  when  the  free-trade  advocates  have  given  us  their  solution, 
we  shall  ask  them  to  give  us,  besides,  the  Dutchman  and  the 
Russian's  own  avouch  for  their  account  of  the  matter;  we 
shall  ask  this,  because  we  are  not  willing  to  take  another 
speculation  to  make  out  a  matter  of  fact.  We  have  had 
experience  enough  of  the  adroitness  of  our  philosophers  in 
conjuring  up  theories  at  home. 

In  despair,  therefore,  of  being  enlightened  in  these  profound 
secrets  of  free  trade,  we  shall  e'en  turn,  after  all  our  peregri 
nations  abroad,  to  our  friend  Mr.  Cambreleng,  and  endeavor 
to  make  out,  as  well  as  we  can,  what  is  the  veritable  and  spe- 

*  Mr.  C.,  however,  does  refer  to  Russia  with  a  sweeping  re 
proof  of  her  present  prohibitory  system.  In  page  21  of  the  Report, 
lie  tells  us  that  under  the  present  system,  "  her  resources  must  be 
comparatively  stationary  and  her  navigation  depressed.  Her  naval 
power  can  never  be  formidable  under  such  a  system."  We  beg 
leave  to  refer  the  learned  chairman  to  Count  Nesselrode's  exposition 
of  the  misfortunes  experienced  by  that  Government  during  her  short 
experience  of  the  free-trade  system — from  1820  to  1822  (the  date 
of  the  minister's  circular).  We  would  also  ask  him  if  he  includes 
this  power  among  our  rivals,  when  lie  expresses  his  alarm  that  we 
had  been  "  already  driven  too  far  in  the  rear  of  all  our  rivals, 
for  naval  power  and  naval  ascendancy?" — If  our  policy  has  brought 
us  even  below  the  rivalry  of  Russia,  we  have  a  right  to  ask  the 
chairman  farther,  whether  he  considers  our  restrictive  system  as 
more  severe  than  hers  ? — She  has  upwards  of  fifty  classes  of  articles 
prohibited  in  her  tariff: — we  have  not  one.  If  not,  how  comes  this 
about  '.'  "  Your  reason,  Jack  !" 


EEVIEW    OF    CAMBRELEXG.  25 

cific  idea  to  be  attached  to  the  term.  Perhaps  his  own  lucu 
brations  will  throw  some  light  upon  the  matter.  If  we  fail  in 
getting  satisfaction  from  this  quarter — then  Heaven  help  us ! 
We  renounce  the  enterprise  as  a  bad  job,  and  shall  cease 
thenceforward  to  regard  it  as  a  matter  of  reason,  or  a  matter 
of  fact,  but  a  plain  matter  of  breviary,  to  be  believed  fe  del 
carbonari. 

It  seems,  from  the  report,  that  this  great  desideratum  in 
national  blessings  was  enjoyed  to  the  fullest  extent,  from  the 
adoption  of  our  constitution  until  the  year  1807.  Until  that 
year  navigation  was  "  the  favorite  object  in  all  our  early  legis 
lation,"  and  the  prosperity  of  the  United  States  is  commented 
on,  by  the  honorable  chairman,  with  a  fond  and  affectionate 
interest.  This,  then,  was  the  era  of  free  trade,  and  these  the 
golden  days  of  non-restriction*  It  might  astonish  an  unlearn 
ed  reader  to  be  told  that  during  this  very  period  (from  1790), 
so  pointed  and  severe  were  the  restrictions  imposed  upon  all 
foreign  tonnage,  by  our  government,  and  so  rigorous  the  pro 
tective  system,  adopted  as  a  fundamental  article  of  our  policy, 
that  the  clamor  of  Great  Britain  against  the  illiberality  of  the 
measure,  almost  amounted  to  declarations  of  direct  hostility. 
A  tonnage  duty  of  fifty  cents  per  ton,  and  an  additional  duty 
of  ten  per  cent,  on  the  merchandise  imported,  were  exacted 
from  all  foreign  vessels  entering  our  ports.  It  was  considered 
as  a  contumacious  defiance  of  Adam  Smith,  and  the  most  fla 
grant  violation  of  the  sacred  principles  of  that  free  trade  which 
Mr.  Cambreleng  holds  in  such  veneration. f  The  effect  of  this 

*  We  are  anxious  to  let  Mr.  C.  speak  for  himself.  "  The  unpar 
alleled  growth  of  our  navigation  anterior  to  1807  is  the  best  evidence 
of  the  influence  of  free  trade  and  moderate  duties  on  national  pros 
perity  :  its  present  stationary  or  declining  condition  the  saddest  com 
mentary  on  the  policy  of  restrictions." — Report,  p.  20. 

The  wise  Dr.  Cooper  says  in  his  tract  upon  the  alteration  of  the 
Tariff  in  1823,  "  For  thirty  years  past  we  have  steadily  pursued  the 
prohibitory  system."  Doctors  differ. 

f  The  present  anxiety  manifested  by  all  parties  in  Great  Britain 
to  persuade  us  against  the  policy  of  our  protective  measures,  exhibits 
2 


26  POLITICAL    PAPERS. 

policy  was  to  produce  the  splendid  results  described  by  the 
report.  It  gave  that  impulse  to  our  navigation  which  instant 
ly  elevated  it  from  its  cradle  into  a  vigorous  manhood,  and 
sustained  it  through  a  glorious  career  of  successful  adventure 
that,  perhaps,  was  never  equalled  in  the  history  of  any  other 
State.  These  restrictions  were  continued  until  the  convention 
of  London  in  1815,  having  become  the  subject  of  endless 
strife  with  the  Government  of  Great  Britain,  and  been  princi 
pally  instrumental  in  producing  the  war  of  1812.  By  this  Con 
vention  they  were  surrendered,  and  from  that  period,  so  far  as 
regards  Great  Britain  and  the  United  States,  the  navigation  of 
the  two  countries  was  placed  upon  that  reciprocal  footing  of 
equal  privileges,  that,  to  the  extent  of  the  intercourse  contem 
plated  by  this  measure,  was  a  full  and  perfect  realization  of 
the  most  undisputed  principles  of  free  trade.  Mr.  Cambreleng 
has  shown,  that  up  to  this  period  (throwing  the  season  of  war 
and  its  accompaniments  out  of  the  question)  our  navigation 
regularly  increased,  while  that  of  the  British  as  regularly  de 
clined  f  thus  confining  the  prosperity  of  our  shipping  to  these 

a  state  of  feeling  precisely  similar  to  that  displayed  in  1791  upon  oc 
casion  of  the  adoption  of  our  navigation  laws.  Glasgow  was  in  an 
uproar,  and  the  most  melancholy  forebodings  were  indulged  as  to  the 
injury  this  system  was  likely  to  work  upon  the  shipping  interests  of 
Great  Britain.  As  usual,  the  free-trade  philosophers  condemned  the 
measure  as  one  of  harsh  import  and  pernicious  tendency.  It  was  re 
served  for  Mr.  Cambreleng  to  discover,  that  this  protection  of  our 
navigation  by  discriminating  duties,  was  one  of  the  developments 
of  the  free-trade  principles. 

*  "  Previous  to  these  political  restrictions — from  1789  to  1807 — our 
country  presented  a  spectacle  of  prosperity  which  had  never  been 
surpassed  by  any  nation  in  any  age.  We  had  not  then  learned  to  in 
termeddle  with  private  employments.  We  had  no  heavy  taxes  to  en 
courage  smuggling,  diminish  consumption,  and  repress  industry ;  we 
had  no  stimulants  but  profit  and  enterprise — no  guides  but  intelligence 
and  judgment.  We  had,  it  is  true,  discriminations  minute  and  mani 
fold,  but  happily  for  the  country,  our  imposts  were  moderate,  our 
speculations  harmless,  and  our  trade  was  free." — Report,  p.  2.  See, 
also,  p.  20. 


REVIEW   OF    CAMBEELENG.  27 

days  of  discrimination  and  protection  against  foreign  rivalry, 
and  then  adducing  the  fact  in  support  of  his  theory  of  free  trade. 
It  is  somewhat  astounding  to  have  such  an  argument  thrust 
upon  us,  because  we  are  really  not  prepared  for  it.  It  is  tak 
ing  us  upon  our  strong  suit ;  it  is,  in  fact,  trumping  our  lead. 
But  perhaps  we  are  mistaken,  and  have  been  all  along,  in 
the  error  of  imagining  that  free  trade  meant  a  trade  free  of 
protecting  duties,  while,  on  the  contrary,  it  meant  a  trade  free 
to  us,  and  shut  up  to  all  the  world  beside.  We  ask  pardon. 
But  our  further  examination  does  not  clear  up  the  difficulty, 
for  Mr.  Cambreleng  has  discovered,  that  ever  since  the  Con 
vention  of  London  the  tables  have  been  turned  and  our  navi 
gation  has  been  on  the  decline,  or  at  best  but  stationary,  while 
the  British  has  been  leaping  forward  with  the  bound  of  the 
greyhound  ;  indeed,  as  Mr.  Cambreleng  observes,  "  She  is 
even  overhauling  our  own  navigation  in  the  direct  trade  with 
that  country." 

Now  it  would  occur,  we  think,  to  a  direct  mind,  to  attribute 
these  effects  to  the  most  proximate  and  intelligible  cause.  We 
should  say,  that  for  the  first  period  above  mentioned,  the  pro 
tection  of  American  industry,  in  all  the  branches  of  navigation, 
afforded  by  the  plain,  solid  and  unequivocal  tariff  of  1790,  gave 
an  advantage  to  this  interest  which  secured  it  from  all  foreign 
competition  ;  while  the  repeal  of  this  tariff,  by  the  Convention 
of  London,  took  away  this  protection  and  exposed  our  naviga 
tion  to  all  the  dangers  of  a  fearful  competition  with  a  vigorous 
and  sagacious  rival.  It  is  true,  that  during  the  first  period,  Ihe 
system  was  not  extended  in  any  striking  degree  beyond  our 
navigation  :  and  the  expediency  of  that  was  obvious.  Our  po 
sition  as  a  neutral,  among  a  world  of  belligerents,  pointed  out 
to  us  the  wisdom  of  gathering  in  the  harvest  of  commerce. 
Our  population  was  small,  our  agriculture  not  overstocked,  and 
our  markets  good ;  why  seek  new  sources  of  industry  when 
there  were  no  idle  hands  ?  why  desert  a  field,  which  was  left 
for  our  reaping,  until  it  might  be  too  late  to  gather  the  crop  ? 
We  were  well — we  could  not  be  better.  We  owed  no  Dart 


28  POLITICAL    PAPERS. 

of  our  success  to  free  trade,  except  to  that  sort  of  free  trade 
which  consisted  in  having  it  all  to  ourselves.  The  principle  of 
reciprocity  had  gone  to  the  winds, — it  never  entered  into  our 
imaginations.  The  world  was  busy  in  cutting  each  other's 
throats,  and  we  were  busy  in  keeping  them  alive. 

But  in  1815,  a  new  state  of  things  presented  itself.  Our 
rulers — how  wisely,  we  leave  Mr.  Cambreleng  to  determine — 
chose  to  let  go  the  restrictions,  and  we  entered,  once  more, 
upon  the  theatre  of  commerce,  with  as  different  sensations  as 
those  with  which  Henry  Morton  visited  the  Bothwell-brig  after 
his  return.  The  same  zeal  that  had  before  pursued  the  en 
grossing  purpose  of  war,  was  now  displayed  in  the  sunshiny 
enterprise  of  peace.  Our  productions  increased  with  our  pop 
ulation  ;  we  had  left  off  carrying  the  products  of  other  na 
tions,  and  were  anxious  even  for  the  privilege  of  carrying  our 
own ;  our  exports  multiplied  in  quantity,  and  diminished  in 
value,*  and  our  importations  exceeded  them  in  amounts  that 
fastened  upon  us  heavy  debts,  which  we  could  only  pay  in 
specie.  Our  gold  and  silver  took  wing ;  and  the  withdrawal 
of  these  sentinels  of  our  paper  currency,  gave  that  imprisoned 
creation  the  free  scope  of  the  air.  It  pervaded  all  space,  af 
fected  all  values,  and  brought  on  that  pestilence  of  unwhole 
some  credits,  that  had  nearly  overwhelmed  the  nation.  In  this 
state  of  things,  we  were  forced  to  turn  to  our  reserved  sources 
of  prosperity.  The  tariff  of  1816  is  not  deserving  of  consider 
ation  as  a  measure  of  protection.  It  was  in  its  greatest  bear 
ing  but  a  measure  of  revenue.  It  was,  in  fact,  but  the  reduc 
tion  of  the  war  rates,  and  those  unfortunate  beings,  who  were 
deluded  into  the  belief  that  it  was  capable  of  protecting  an  ex- 

*  Cotton  has  always  been  our  chief  export.  The  following  state 
ment  will  show  the  increase  in  quantity  and  diminution  in  value. 
We  compute  by  millions  without  referring  to  the  fractions. 

1807  Exports  of  cotton.        60.000.000  of  Ibs.  value  $14.000,000 

1815 

1820 

1823  " 

1825  u 


82,000,000 

17,000,000 

127.000.000 

*                22.000,000 

173.000,000 

20.000.000 

176,000.000 

3fi.000.000 

204,000,000 

25,000,000 

REVIEW    OF    CAMBBELEBTG.  29 

pensive  infant  manufacture,  learned  wisdom  at  the  most  dread 
ful  temporal  sacrifices.  As,  however,  these  great  interests  of 
the  country  found  favor  in  the  sight  of  the  Government,  and 
the  successive  improvements  of  subsequent  legislation  upon 
them,  began  to  be  felt,  the  nation  steadily  revived  under  the 
process  ;  and  every  year  a  new  impulse  was  given  to  the  most 
valuable  of  our  energies.  Notwithstanding  the  effect  of  British 
competition  upon  our  tonnage,  and  the  increase  of  the  ratio  of 
that  portion  of  their  shipping  employed  in  our  trade,  our  own 
navigation  vigorously  and  rapidly  augmented.  We  say  this, 
in  the  face  of  Mr.  Cambreleng's  assertions  to  the  contrary. 
We  shall,  in  the  sequel  of  our  remarks,  make  good  our  ground. 
For  the  present,  our  inquiry  is  confined  to  an  investigation  of 
the  principles  of  free  trade. 

So  far  as  this  investigation  goes,  we  think  we  are  warranted 
in  concluding,  that  Mr.  Cambreleng's  vision  of  non-restriction 
will  prove  to  be  somewhat  like  that  of  Mr.  Huskisson,  with  the 
exception,  that  it  does  not  extend  to  the  protection  of  any  in 
dustry  but  that  employed  in  navigation  ;  and  we  are  mainly 
doubtful  if  his  measures  are  even  the  best  for  that.  His  will, 
however,  is  good,  and  we  sincerely  believe  that  he  is  quite  in 
earnest  in  his  zeal  to  increase  our  commerce.  He  is  an  en 
thusiastic  merchant,  and  the  most  zealous  of  New  Yorkers. 
He  has  a  natural  tide-water  liking  about  him  ; — is  in  ectasies 
with  the  thought  of  increased  commissions,  and  sedately  intent 
in  his  project  of  converting  New  York  into  Liverpool — even 
by  the  transfer  of  the  population.  His  whole  conceptions  of 
national  prosperity  are  summed  up  in  a  compendious  system 
of  fetch  and  carry.  He  would  like  to  carry  every  thing  raw 
across  the  ocean,  and  bring  back  every  thing  made  up.  It 
would  delight  him  to  have  the  flour  of  New  York  baked  in 
London.  All  the  sinew  and  muscle  of  the  country,  in  his  esti 
mation,  are  concentrated  in  her  tars,  her  wealth  in  her  ships, 
and  her  gentlemen  in  her  factors.  Five  pei  cent,  for  selling, 
and  two  and  a  half  for  buying  are  the  most  exquisite  of  domes 
tic  operations ;  and  long  speeches,  about  free  trade,  the  most 


30  POLITICAL    PAPERS. 

charming  of  diversions.  We  do  not  feel  inclined  to  interfere 
with  his  tastes,  nor  would  we  disparage  the  lofty  pretensions 
of  our  good  friends  in  Gotham,  but  we  are  not  quite  so  liberal 
in  our  prejudices  in  her  favor.  We  think  it  a  fallacious  idea, 
that  our  navigation  is  our  greatest  interest.  We  do  not  think  its 
rise  or  decline  "  the  index  of  our  national  prosperity  and  pow 
er."  We  have  no  fears  of  our  commercial  marine,  nor  of  our 
want  of  a  vigorous,  brave  and  triumphant  navy.  We  see  no 
reason  to  believe  that  either  the  one  or  the  other  will  be  prej 
udiced  by  the  protective  system.  On  the  contrary,  we  are 
convinced  that  their  surest  reliance  and  most  healthful  nurse 
will  be  found  in  that  very  system.  Navigation  is  the  handmaid 
of  manufactures, — it  is  an  arm,  and  a  valuable  one,  of  our  pow 
er,  but  it  is  neither  the  head  nor  the  body.  It  can  only  flour 
ish  upon  the  cultivation  of  our  other  sources  of  industry  ;  and 
notwithstanding  the  hypochondriacal  auguries,  and  ill-omened 
sighs  of  Mr.  Cambreleng  over  the  departing  vigor  of  this  stur 
dy  and  gallant  concern,  we  have  seen  it,  and  still  see  it,  in 
creasing  with  an  exulting  step.  Our  coasting  tonnage  moves 
like  a  giant,  and  our  foreign,  with  the  occasional  fluctuations 
of  different  years,  advances  to  its  destinies  with  a  stride  that 
already  has  struck  many  a  fearful  misgiving  into  the  hearts  of 
our  rivals.  We  say  this,  for  the  comfort  of  Mr.  Cambreleng, 
and  with  some  hope  that  it  may  reconcile  him  to  the  perverse 
destiny  of  looking  upon  a  prosperous  commerce  lifting  its  head 
from  the  midst  of  the  phantoms  of  the  protective  system. 

With  these  remarks,  we  take  our  leave  of  Mr.  Huskisson's 
and  Mr.  Cambreleng's  free  trade,  having  persuaded  ourselves 
that,  in  regard  to  the  system  of  Great  Britain,  they  have  both 
been  guilty  of  a  misnomer.  We  have  found  nothing  to  give  us 
a  just  notion  of  its  applicability  to  human  affairs.  We  end  our 
search  where  we  began.  It  is  a  chimera  ;  a  pleasant  diversion 
of  the  philosophers  to  amuse  an  idle  hour ;  an  article  of  faith 
with  Mr.  Cambreleng ;  and  a  hoax  with  Mr.  Huskisson.  It  is 
the  Bottle  Imp,  which  every  man  persuades  his  neighbor  to 
buy,  and  which  no  man  is  willing  to  keep ;  constantly  falling 


REVIEW   OF   CAMBRELENG.  31 

in  value  and  never  bringing  what  it  costs  ;  a  fruitful  instrument 
of  juggle,  that  consigns  the  unfortunate  wight  that  holds  it,  at 
the  lowest  farthing,  to  the  power  of  the  fiend.  "  Miscreant  dev 
il !  if  I  again  call  on  thee  for  thy  services,  it  is  that  I  may  rid 
myself  of  thee  forever  !"  We  would  give  our  country  the  ben 
efit  of  the  moral — "  touch  not,  taste  not  I1' 

We  have  much  more  interest  in  analyzing  Mr.  Cambreleng's 
argument  upon  the  tariff,  and  we  approach  this  task  better  sat 
isfied  with  the  undertaking,  because,  however  ambiguous  the 
doctrines  of  the  learned  chairman,  and  the  followers  of  his 
school  may  be,  on  the  subject  of  free  trade,  their  objections 
against  the  tariff  are,  at  least,  intelligible.  We  have  no  diffi 
culty  in  understanding  their  import.  It  is  a  question  of  opin 
ions  and  facts  ;  of  predictions  and  results,  and  we  can  compare 
them. 

It  is  worth  while  remarking  the  amount  of  promiscuous  ob 
loquy  that  has  been  cast  upon  this  measure,  and  that  has  as 
sailed  it  in  every  stage  of  its  growth  ;  and  how  like  a  plant  of 
stubborn  virtue  it  has  grown  in  spite  of  tempest  and  foul  weath 
er.  If  half  that  is  said  of  it  were  true,  it  is  one  of  the  most  per 
vading  causes  in  nature.  Do  prices  rise  or  sink,  or  a  bank  break 
or  a  factory  fall,  or  a  merchant  overtrade  himself  and  burst, 
by  repletion,  or  under  trade  and  collapse  by  attenuation,  the 
earth  multiply  her  abundance  or  refuse  her  stores,  the  peo 
ple  emigrate  or  stand  still,  our  rivals  starve  or  prosper,  it  is 
all  resolvable  into  the  tariff.  It  meets  all  emergencies,  sup 
ports  all  theories,  consorts  with  every  possible  state  of  facts, 
and  furnishes  a  compendious  and  universal  solution  of  all  diffi 
culties.  There  is,  nevertheless,  one  thing  perplexing  about  it: 
in  spite  of  persuasion  and  prophecy,  it  obstinately  refuses  to 
check  the  growth  of  internal  improvement,  to  lessen  our  com 
merce,  to  rob  the  revenue,  or  even  to  starve  the  people.  Our 
state  physicians  are  constantly  feeling  the  public  pulse  and 
holding  consultations  upon  the  case ;  it  is  hard  for  them  to 
determine  whether  we  get  better  or  worse.  Their  embarrass 
ments  are  full  as  vexatious  as  that  of  the  worthy  leech  whose 


32  POLITICAL    PAPERS. 

patient  exhibited  the  anomalous  symptoms  described  in  the  fol 
lowing  summary :  "  Doctor,  I  eat  well,  drink  well,  and  sleep 
well; — what  can  be  the  occasion  of  it?" 

The  reply  may  be  equally  as  applicable  in  the  mouths  of 
our  friends : 

"  Ah,  my  dear  sir,  I  will  give  you  something  to  cure  all 
that." 

We  are  not  quite  sure,  that  on  the  subject  of  the  tariff,  Mr. 
Cambreleng  will  be  considered  the  oracle  of  the  party, — always 
excepting  the  City  of  Gotham,  where  we  do  not  venture  to  ques 
tion  his  authenticity, — but  of  the  anti-tariff  party  at  large  ; 
that  numerous  and  respectable  portion  of  our  fellow-citizens, 
who  object  to  the  tariff  policy  from  all  the  different  considera 
tions  that  general,  personal,  local  and  peculiar  interests  have 
conspired  to  collect ; — a  body  of  malcontents  on  sundry  grounds. 
One  party  objecting,  because  it  does  not  protect  equally ;  a  sec 
ond  because  it  protects  at  all ;  a  third,  because  it  is  against  their 
private  interests ;  a  fourth,  because  it  is  against  the  Constitution  ; 
a  fifth,  because  it  is  against  General  Jackson  ;  and  a  sixth, — a 
small,  and  simple  party, — because  it  is  against  Adam  Smith  ! 
although  it  is  obvious  that  Mr.  Cambreleng's  objections  are 
intended  to  cover  the  whole  ground.  He  holds  with  them 
all,  and  takes  it  to  be,  in  whatsoever  regard  it  may  be  con 
sidered,  altogether  a  thing  accursed ;  desecrated  to  the  full 
measure  of  the  malediction  upon  Obadiah,  "for  tying  these 
knots." 

It  is  our  purpose  to  bring  these  several  opinions  of  Mr. 
Cambreleng  into  array,  in  order  that  we  may  test  them  by 
the  evidence  to  which  they  appeal,  and  by  their  relation 
ship  to  each  other.  The  report  has  the  merit,  except  in 
but  few  particulars,  of  being  clear  and  intelligible  in  its  lan 
guage.  It  exhibits  the  intrepidity  of  assertion  that  belongs 
to  a  writer  who  is  proud  of  his  responsibility,  and  means  to 
stand  by  it :  we  run  the  less  risk,  therefore,  of  misrepresent 
ing  him.  His  principles  may  be  comprehended  in  the  follow 
ing  points : 


REVIEW    OF    CAMBKELENG.  33 

1.  The  doctrine  that  "  restrictions  are  the  best  means  of 
permanently  securing    cheap  commodities,"  is  an  antiquated 
absurdity. — (vide  p.  5.) 

2.  That  the  protective  system  has  been  prejudicial  to  our 
own  domestic  industry,  which  "  would  go  far  towards  furnish 
ing  our  own  supplies  under  a  system  of  imposts,  high  enough 
to  encourage  manufactures,  but  not  so  high  as  to  encourage 
gambling."— (p.  8.) 

3.  That  it  is  utterly  incompatible  with  our  confederated  form 
of  government. — (p.  14.) 

4.  That  restraints  on  foreign  commerce  diminish  the  value 
of  agricultural  produce. — (p.  6.) 

5.  That  they  tend  to  increase  the  tide  of  emigration,  and 
are  now  reducing  the  New  England  States  to  a  condition  "  as 
unimportant  as  any  one  of  the  members  of  the  German  con 
federacy." — (p.  6.) 

6.  That  the  protective   system  has  given  rise  to  a  most 
formidable  contraband  trade,  while,  at  the  same  time,  it  has 
encouraged    monopolies,    diminished   consumption,    and   op 
pressed  the  poorer  classes  of  society  with  grievous  burdens. — 
(p.  12,  27  et passim.) 

7.  That  it  is  destructive  to  navigation,  and  has  given  us 
ground  to  fear  that  our  naval  ascendancy  is  far  in  the  rear  of 
all  our  rivals. — (p.  18.) 

8.  "  That  no  nation,  whether  of  Europe  or  America,  can 
contend,  in   manufactures,  with  Great  Britain," — (p.  7.) — and 
that  "  the  only  result  of  our  taxation  must  be  to  perpetuate  the 
ascendancy,  even  in  our  own  markets,  of  the  manufactures  of 
that  nation." — (p.  9.) 

9.  That  notwithstanding  all  our  legislation,  we  are  as  little 
of  a  manufacturing  people  now,  as  we  were  at  the  adoption  of 
the  constitution — (p.  6) — and  that  "  ours  is  essentially  an  ag 
ricultural  people." — (p.  7.) 

10.  And,  finally,  that  our  tariff  is  injurious  to  every  i..tei- 
est,  and  to  every  section  of  the  country. — (p.  8.) 

Such  are  the  cardinal  points  in  the  creed  of  Mr.  Cambrel- 


34  POLITICAL    PAPERS. 

eng,  and  generally,  we  believe,  of  those  who  style  themselves 
the  advocates  of  free  trade. 

It  is  not  our  intention  to  enter  into  a  large  discussion  of 
all,  or  any  of  these  dogmas.  No  question  that  has  ever  risen 
in  America  has  been  more  fully  debated,  than  every  thing  that 
appertains  to  the  protective  system.  It  has,  literally,  been 
drained  dry :  and,  we  think,  there  never  was  a  controversy  in 
which  the  force  of  argument  was  more  overwhelming.  The 
friends  of  the  present  system  have  uniformly  met  the  vague, 
contradictory  and  indefinite  theories  of  their  opponents,  with 
sound  conclusions,  tested  by  the  experience  of  the  most  en 
lightened  nations,  and  fortified  by  the  constant  accumulation 
of  present  facts.  It  has  been  the  singular  fate  of  the  advo 
cates  of  free  trade,  to  witness,  in  the  short  career  of  our  own 
experience,  the  successive  demolition  of  every  ground  upon 
which  they  have  entrenched  themselves  :  they  have  been 
floored  in  every  bout.  Not  one  prediction  has  been  verified  ; 
not  one  assertion  made  good ;  not  one  citadel  maintained. 
Our  evils,  according  to  these  gentlemen,  are  yet  to  fall  upon 
us :  accidental  combinations  have  hitherto  occurred  to  with 
hold  the  storm  that  they  have  prophecied  for  us.  Even  Mr. 
Cambreleng,  who  banquets  with  the  gust  of  an  epicure,  upon 
any  present  horror,  is  obliged  to  feast  on  the  hope  of  coming 
distresses.  His  sympathies  are,  mostly  in  anticipation  :  he  is 
condolatory  in  advance :  his  sighs  are  not  at  sight.  He  en 
joys,  therefore,  his  present  minor  afflictions  with  the  certainty 
of  a  reversion  of  ill  humor  which,  we  predict,  is  forever  fated 
to  follow  his  jack-o'-lantern  fancies  at  a  distance  that  can  never 
be  diminished. 

Our  business,  for  the  present,  is  to  deal  with  his  facts. 

The  opponents  of  the  protective  system  certainly  contend 
at  great  disadvantage,  because  they  contend  against  the  uni 
versal  testimony  of  nations.  They  are  unable  to  afford  the 
world  the  lights  of  experience.  While,  on  the  other  side,  it  is 
in  our  power  to  meet  them  with  the  perplexing  interrogatory, — 
Why  is  it  that  these  sublimated  speculations  have. been  con- 


REVIEW    OF    CAMBRELENG. 


35 


stantly  urged  upon  us  by  those  who  have  all  the  power  to 
adopt  them,  themselves,  in  practice,  under  the  most  favorable 
circumstances,  and  who  yet  eschew  them  with  the  same  cir 
cumspect  avoidance  as  the  veriest  ravings  of  the  most  danger 
ous  philosophy  ?  Why  is  it,  that  Great  Britain,  with  a  capital 
as  powerful  as  the  lever  of  Archimedes,  with  the  very  perfec 
tion  of  human  craft,  and  with  the  most  intelligent  conductors 
of  human  industry,  has  ever  been  distinguished  for  the  zeal 
with  which  she  has  descanted  upon  the  captivations  of  this 
theory,  and  yet  has  never  approximated  to  a  recognition  of  it 
in  any  one  period  of  her  history  ? 

It  is  remarkable,  that  she  has  never  yet  seen  a  nation  de 
vote  her  attention  to  manufactures,  that  she  did  not  straight 
way  resort  to  every  expedient  of  diplomacy,  persuasion  or 
force,  to  induce  her  to  an  abandonment  of  the  purpose — all,  if 
we  could  trust  to  the  sincerity  of  her  professions,  for  the  pur 
pose  of  improving  the  happiness  and  comfort  of  her  rivals. 
She  has  occasionally  succeeded  in  the  effort,  and  her  victims 
have  uniformly  found  out  their  errors  in  aggravated  domestic 
calamity,  and,  sometimes,  in  the  total  overthrow  of  their  best 
interest* 

She  is  now  playing  the  same  game  with  us.  The  American 
tariff  has  waked  up  the  slumbering  serpent  of  Britain  ;  a  ser 
pent  that  is  never  seen  to  move  while  the  British  protective 
systems  are  unthreatened  from  abroad,  but  which  is  never 
quiet  when  England's  enemies  are  guilty  of  the  heresy  of  fol 
lowing  her  example. 

But  to  proceed  to  our  examination  : 

*  Of  this,  the  Methuen  treaty,  concluded  in  1703,  with  Portugal, 
is  a  most  conspicuous  example. — (Vide  "  Pope's  British  Merchant,"  vol. 
iii.  p.  76,  and  "  Wealth  of  Nations,"  book  iv.  c.  3.)  That  nation,  with  a 
prosperous  and  valuable  system  of  manufactures,  was  persuaded  into 
this  treaty,  of  three  short  articles,  by  which  she  surrendered  the 
right  of  restricting  British  manufactures.  Her  story  is  briefly  told. 
A  thriving  nation  was  reduced  to  bankruptcy,  and  a  state  of  depend 
ence  worse  than  colonial  vassalage.  Mr.  Methuen  was  applauded, 
and  the  poor  Portuguese  laughed  at.  "  Equo,  ne  credito  Teucri !" 


36  POLITICAL    PAPERS. 

Mr.  Cambreleng's  declarations  are  over-bold.  The  "  anti 
quated  absurdity"  of  which  he  speaks  in  the  first  opinion  that 
we  have  imputed  to  him,  is,  to  say  the  least  of  it,  not  an  obso 
lete  one.  It  is  consecrated  by  the  names  of  the  most  eminent 
statesmen  of  both  hemispheres.  The  very  proposition  to  which 
he  applies  it,  is,  in  terms,  the  proposition  of  General  Hamil 
ton.*  It  is  the  avowed  doctrine  of  Mr.  Huskisson  :  the  "  ab 
surdity"  upon  which  England  has  advanced  to  empire,  and 
now  holds  the  scales  of  power  for  the  world :  certainly  the 
most  fashionable  and  reputable  of  absurdities.  It  is,  as  we 
affirm,  the  principle  which  has  operated  to  preserve  the  ener 
gies  of  our  own  people  amidst  that  mighty  conflict  of  civil 
ized  nations  for  supremacy,  in  the  present  peace  of  mankind, 
and  without  which  we  should  have  sunk  into  the  inconsidera 
ble  power  that  Mr.  Cambreleng  believes  us  to  be.  But,  above 
all,  it  is  "  an  absurdity"  which,  if  we  understand  Mr.  Cambrel 
eng  aright,  has  the  respectable  sanction  of  his  own  name  in 
its  support.  His  second  proposition  above  quoted,  affirms  the 
very  principle  :  "  our  manufactures  would  go  far  towards  our 
own  supply,  under  a  system  of  imposts  high  enough  to  encour 
age  manufactures,  but  not  so  high  as  to  encourage  "  gambling." 
We  ask  for  no  more  than  a  system  to  encourage  our  manufac 
tures,  and  our  difference  with  Mr.  C.,  it  seems,  is  not  at  last 
one  of  principle,  but  one  of  degree.  It  is  no  more  our  wish  to 
encourage  gambling  than  it  is  his.  We  may  have  different 
notions  of  the  rate  of  imposts  necessary  for  the  purpose  of  en 
couragement,  but  we  entirely  accord  in  doctrine.  We  must  be 

*  We  quote  from  the  Report  on  Manufactures  (page  212,  Phila. 
edition).  "  But  though  it  were  true  that  the  immediate  and  certain 
effect  of  regulations  controlling  the  competition  of  foreign  with  do 
mestic  fabrics  was  an  increase  of  price,  it  is  universally  true  that  the 
contrary  is  the  ultimate  effect  with  every  successful  manufacture. 
When  a  domestic  manufacture  has  attained  to  perfection,  and  lias 
engaged  in  the  prosecution  of  it  a  competent  number  of  persons,  it 
invariably  becomes  cheaper !" — "  It  can  be  afforded  and  accordingly 
seldom  or  never  fails  to  be  sold  cheaper  than  was  the  foreign  article 
for  which  it  is  a  substitute." 


REVIEW    OF   CAMBRELENG.  37 

permitted  to  say,  however,  that  this  seems  to  be  a  concession 
on  the  part  of  Mr.  C.  very  much  at  variance  with  his  first 
principle,  and  entirely  subversive  of  his  doctrine  in  regard  to 
the  constitutionality  of  the  measure,  expressed  in  the  third.  It 
is  a  concession  wrung  from  him  by  the  invincible  testimony  of 
the  facts  :  one  that,  as  an  American  and  a  statesman,  he  could 
not,  in  candor,  withhold.  There  are  some  branches  of  our 
protected  manufactures,  that  it  would  be  the  rashest  folly  and 
most  culpable  ignorance  to  say,  have  derived  no  benefit  from 
the  protective  system  of  this  country.  Our  plain  cottons,  Mr. 
C.  is  obliged  to  confess,  form  an  exception  lo  the  evils  enu 
merated  in  the  train  of  our  protective  system — and  it  is  too 
obvious  for  him,  or  any  one  else,  to  deny  that  our  manufac 
tures  from  leather,  tin,  copper,  furs,  and  a  host  of  other  arti 
cles,  have  risen  to  a  degree  of  prosperity  that  protects  them 
forever  from  the  competition  of  any  rivals — not  under  the  5 
and  7^  per  cent,  tariff  of  1790 — but  under  the  10,  15  and  30 
per  cent,  tariffs  of  1794,  1816,  1820  and  1824.  If  Mr.  Cam- 
breleng  means  to  say  that  this  is  his  free-trade  system — why, 
then,  we  shall  hold  it  in  more  esteem.  It  is  nearer  in  its  re 
semblance  to  the  free  trade  of  Mr.  Huskisson,  and  precisely 
in  keeping  with  the  free  trade  which,  Mr.  Cambreleng  has 
shown,  worked  such  wonders  in  favor  of  our  navigation,  up  to 
1807.  But,  we  must  tell  him,  it  is  not  the  free  trade  of  Adam 
Smith,  the  Edinburg  Review,  and  Mr.  Ricardo — the  short  com- 
pend  of  whose  doctrine  is,  "  that  the  manufacture  which  can 
subsist  without  protection,  does  not  want  it,  and  that  which 
cannot,  does  not  deserve  it."  He  may  quibble  with  us,  per 
haps,  on  the  difference  between  encouragement  and  protection. 
As  to  the  constitutional  question,  we  can  draw  no  distinc 
tion.  If  it  be  unlawful  in  Congress  to  protect,  it  is  equally  un 
lawful  to  encourage.  The  constitution  does  not  deal  with  de 
grees — it  gives  all  or  none.  But  the  distinction  is  equally  fu 
tile  in.  every  other  sense.  To  encourage  our  manufactures, 
you  must  protect  them.  The  very  encouragement  is  depend 
ent  upon  the  protection.  No  man  will  venture  his  capital  into 


POLITICAL    PAPERS. 

trade  under  the  inducements  furnished  by  the  government  for 
his  encouragement,  but  with  the  guarantee  of  their  protection. 
It  would  be  a  system  of  the  most  dishonorable  and  treacher 
ous  cruelty  to  extend  encouragement  on  any  other  terms.  It 
would  be  like  encouraging  our  population  to  cultivate  the  In 
dian  frontier,  and  deserting  them  upon  the  first  incursion  of 
the  savages.  It  is  a  practical  absurdity — a  most  pernicious 
sophism. 

*&&  fourth,  fifth  and  ninth  principles  in  the  creed  of  Mr. 
Cambreleng,  as  we  have  stated  them,  fare  no  better  than  his 
first  and  second. 

They  stand  in  the  like  attitude  of  hostility.  "  The  restraints 
on  foreign  commerce  diminish  the  value  of  agricultural  pro 
duce  !  and  they  increase  the  tide  of  emigration  from  the  New 
England  States  to  the  west." 

"  Ours  is  essentially  an  agricultural  people."  And  "we 
are  as  little  of  a  manufacturing  people  now  as  we  were  at  the 
adoption  of  the  constitution  !" 

Mr.  Cambreleng  everywhere  treats  the  protective  system 
as  one  destined  to  raise  State  monopolies — an  odious  taxing  of 
the  many  for  the  benefit  of  the  few — a  plan  to  enrich  one  portion 
of  the  Union  at  the  expense  of  the  rest. — (See  p.  n,  12.) 
Now,  if  this  be  true,  we  would  ask  where  do  these  monopolies 
exist  ?  and  of  what  character  are  they  ?  If  in  the  manufactures 
created  by  the  protective  system,  how  can  they  be  monopolies, 
when  Mr.  C.  tells  us  they  would  have  been  more  numerous 
and  prosperous  without  the  tariff  than  with  it  (page  6)  ?  and 
that  "we  have  been  steadily  sacrificing  the  commerce,  naviga 
tion  and  capital  of  New  England,  merely  to  bring  forward  new 
competitors  in  manfacturing,  to  embarrass  our  old  and  skilful 
artisans, ,  and  to  ruin  themselves"  (page  2).  If  this  be  crea 
ting  monopoly,  it  looks  very  much  like  the  reverse.  If  discour 
aging  manufactures  by  ruinous  duties,  and  bringing  new  com 
petitors  into  the  field  to  contend  against  the  old  ones,  be  a 
monopolizing  system,  we  have  always  been  under  a  misappre 
hension  of  the  terms. 


REVIEW   OF    CAMBRELENG.  39 

This  cry  of  monopoly  is  very  stale,  and  quite  unworthy  the 
respectable  character  of  Mr.  Cambreleng's  mind.  There  is  no 
feature,  as  he  himself  has  shown,  of  monopoly  about  it.  There 
are  no  individuals  nor  companies  invested  with  exclusive  priv 
ileges.  There  are  no  overgrown  capitals  to  frown  down  the 
attempts  of  the  feeble.  The  field  of  competition  is  as  open  as 
the  native  atmosphere,  and  the  results  have  been  so  far  from 
those  of  a  monopoly,  that  the  well  known  cause  of  much  of  the 
present  distress  among  our  manufacturers,  and  the  unquestion 
able  source  of  that  astonishing  decline  of  prices,  of  which  Mr. 
Cambreleng  speaks,  is  the  extraordinary  and  unparalleled  ac 
tivity  with  which  the  ground  of  domestic  manufacture  has  been 
occupied  by  artisans  of  all  classes,  degrees  and  size.  Scarce 
ly  a  mill  seat  has  been  found,  in  the  last  ten  years,  in  those  re 
gions  of  our  country  suited  to  manufacturing,  and  especially  in 
New  England,  that  has  not  been  seized  upon  by  the  greedy  en 
terprise  of  our  industrious  manufacturers.*  Villages  have 
sprung  up  under  its  influence :  the  waste  has  been  turned  into 
a  garden ;  the  unoccupied  and  profitless  population  of  the  coun 
try,  have  found  labor  and  reward  at  their  hands,  and  the 
most  happy  and  joyous  changes  have  occurred  in  the  condi 
tion  of  thousands  of  helpless  families.  Whatever  effect  has  re 
sulted  from  the  tariff  policy,  upon  the  success  of  the  capitalist ; 
however  it  may  have  trenched  upon  the  established  channels 
of  commerce,  there  is  but  one  opinion  throughout  the  Union 

*  It  is  somewhat  remarkable,  that  the  smaller  manufacturing  es 
tablishments  in  the  United  States,  have  suffered  the  least  from  the 
severe  competition  of  the  last  year,  and  have  bent  before  the  storm 
tliat  has  overwhelmed  sturdier  antagonists.  The  difficulties  of  Con 
necticut,  where  there  are,  we  believe,  no  large  establishments,  have 
been  comparatively  unfelt — and,  generally,  the  moderate  capitalists 
have  at  least  saved  themselves. 

Manufactures  are  also  making  their  way  into  the  South.  We 
understand  that  at  this  time  an  extensive  cotton  establishment  is 
about  removing  from  Delaware  into  South  Carolina.  There  is  more 
than  one  Oasis,  too,  in  the  anti-tariff  desert  of  Virginia.  Principles 
will  travel  with  machinery. 


40  POLITICAL    PAPER?. 

of  the  accumulated  benefits  it  has  dispensed  upon  our  poorer 
population,  and  of  the  utter  absence  of  any  one  consequence 
belonging  to  a  monopoly.  It  is  well  enough  that  Adam  Smith, 
and  other  European  writers  should  inveigh  against  the  monop 
olies  with  which  they  were  conversant ;  against  the  mischiefs 
of  old  establishments,  invested  by  royal  charter  with  exclusive 
privileges,  or  guarded,  with  all  the  force  of  parchment,  against 
the  competition  which  has  always  proved  so  beneficial  to  the 
arts ; — but  it  is  very  unbecoming  an  American  statesman,  and 
a  philosopher,  to  press  their  sensible  and  well  founded  reproofs 
into  a  service  that  affords  no  one  point  of  resemblance  or  appli 
cation.  Such  an  effort  is  as  discreditable  to  the  judgment  of 
the  man  who  makes  it,  as  the  argument,  that  because  Great 
Britain  can  manufacture  wool  with  a  protection  of  15  per  cent. 
America  can  do  it  with  30 ! 

But,  there  is  one  thing  still  more  striking  about  this :  why 
is  it  that  the  population  of  New  England  should  emigrate  to  the 
agricultural  districts,  with  all  the  inducements  of  this  monopoly 
to  keep  them  at  home  ?  and  that  when,  as  the  chairman  in 
forms  us,  agricultural  products  are  diminishing  in  value.  The 
people  of  New  England  are  charged  with  a  disposition  to  fly 
to  the  agricultural  districts  at  some  thousand  miles  off,  and 
to  encounter  all  the  privations  of  a  country  which  has  scarcely 
a  market  for  any  thing,  and  which  pays  double  for  every  thing 
imported,  at  a  time  when  agricultural  products  are  diminishing 
in  value,  and  to  fly,  too,  from  a  quarter  of  the  Union  enjoying 
the  exclusive  privileges  of  monopoly  ?  We  insist  upon  it,  Mr.  C. 
must  give  us  up  the  reduction  in  the  value  of  agricultural  prod 
uct,  the  monopoly,  or  the  emigration.  We  think  inquiry  will 
show  that  he  is  entitled  to  neither  of  them.  As  to  the  monop 
oly^  Mr.  C.  cannot  seriously  urge  it  The  emigration  from 
New  England  caused  by  the  tariff  he  has  asserted  with  some 
emphasis,  and  has  attempted  to  prove  it  by  reference  to  the 
census.  His  argument  upon  this  subject  is  as  flimsy  as  a 
piece  of  Manchester  cotton  made  to  resemble  American — as 
his  own  svstem  fabricated  after  Mr.  Huskisson's  !  It  is  this : 


REVIEW    OF    CAMBRELENG.  41 

The  decline  of  population  began  with  our  restrictions  in  1807. 
.From  1790  to  1800,  the  increase  in  New  England  was  226,036  ; 
from  1800  to  1810,  239,883  ;  from  1810  to  1820,  188,154; 
and  up  to  1828,  152,616.  The  ratio,  he  admits,  might  diminish, 
"  but  it  is  evident  that  the  amount  of  the  increase  ought  to 
have  been  greater  in  every  succeeding  ten  years,  instead  of 
declining  as  it  has  done  uniformly  since  1807."  We  presume 
that  Mr.  Cambreleng  will  not  dispute  with  us  the  proposition, 
that  a  small  population  will  increase  in  a  greater  ratio,  though 
not  in  greater  "numbers,  than  a  large.  A  man  and  his  wife 
may  contrive  to  double  their  population  in  two. years,  but  he 
will  be  an  active  settler,  and  his  wife  as  valuable  a  dame  as 
the  help-mate  of  Reuben  Ring,  in  Cooper's  romance,  if  he  be 
as  successful  in  the  next  two  years  ;  and  nothing  but  a  miracle 
could  assist  him  in  the  third  series.  Mr.  Cambreleng  admits 
this,  but  he  couples  it  with  the  remark,  that  "  //  is  evident  the 
amount  ought  to  be  greater  in  every  succeeding  ten  years." 
We  would  ask  the  learned  chairman,  in  what  State  the  amount 
has  been  greater  in  each  succeeding  ten  years  ?  We  answer 
for  him  ; — but  one  State  in  the  Union,  and  that,  Vermont.  In 
the  last  eight  years,  every  State  in  the  Union,  with  that  ex 
ception,  has  been  declining  in  ratio  and  amount ;  even  the 
great  States  of  Ohio  and  New  York  ;  and  they,  more  than 
others,  for  the  very  reason  that  they  are  great  States.  Until 
the  period  assigned  to  the  restrictions  (1807),  we  had  no  large 
new  States ;  the  most  of  them  were  established  after  1810. 
Since  that  time,  about  300,000  square  miles  have  been  opened 
to  emigration,  and  the  population  which  has  migrated  thither 
has  gone,  principally,  between  1810  and  1820,  and  at  this 
time  amounts  to  about  600,000.  Now,  the  emigration  has  not 
been  in  a  greater  ratio  from  New  England  than  from  the  other 
States  ;  for  New  England  has  actually  increased  in  population 
in  a  greater  ratio  than  New  Jersey,  Delaware,  Maryland,  Vir 
ginia  and  North  Carolina,  notwithstanding  that  her  family  is 
larger  and  more  thickly  settled  ;  a  circumstance  that  would, 
of  course,  lessen  the  ratio.  The  conclusion,  therefore,  from 


42  POLITICAL    PAPERS. 

the  census  proves  nothing,  or  it  proves  too  much.     It  proves 
as  much  against  the  vigorous  communities  of  Ohio  and   New- 
York,  as  against  New  England  ;  and  yet  no  one  will  believe 
Mr.  C.  when  he  assures  us  that  the  population  of  these  two 
States  is  suffering  from  the  restraints  on  commerce. 

The  truth  is,  Mr.  Cambreleng  is  altogether  mistaken  in 
imputing  the  common  necessary  emigration  of  New  England, 
with  her  present  dense  population,  to  any  cause  connected 
with  the  tariff.  There  is  great  reason  to  believe  that  more 
persons  leave  New  England  to  pursue  mechanic  arts  than 
agriculture ;  and  the  most  thriving  manufacturing  establish 
ments,  in  the  new  States,  will  be  found,  generally,  in  the  hands 
of  the  emigrants  from  New  England.  The  western  country  is 
every  year  becoming  a  more  comfortable  region,  and  the  in 
ducements  to  emigration,  therefore,  are  continually  multiply 
ing  ;  as  much  in  aid  of  the  extension  of  the  manufacturing 
system,  as  of  the  cultivation  of  the  soil.  If  any  thing  has 
arrested  this  tide  of  emigration,  it  is  to  be  found  in  the  manu 
factures  ;  the  employment  they  have  afforded,  and  the  com 
forts  they  have  dispensed,  superseding,  in  a  vast  number  of 
cases,  the  necessity  of  removal.* 

To  say  "  that  ours  is  essentially  an  agricultural  people," 
is  an  unmeaning  generality.  We  are  essentially  whatever  the 
occasion  makes  us  ;  bent  by  no  national  habitudes  to  any 
particular  species  of  labor,  but  remarkable,  throughout  the 
\\orld,  for  our  facile  and  dexterous  versatility  in  any  calling ; 
and  there  never  was  a  nation  so  well  fitted  to  raise  them 
selves  out  of  that  class  which  Smith  and  Say  both  denomi 
nate  the  beggarly  countries ;  countries  addicted  to  agriculture, 
and  dependent  upon  foreigners.  But  Mr.  C.,  who  is  fated  to 
afford  every  variety  of  self-contradiction,  and  whose  report  is 
"  compact  of  jars"  to  a  degree  that  we  have  never  seen  in  the 

*  Indeed,  Mr.  Hayne  has  charged  upon  the  New  England  States 
the  encouragement  of  the  protective  system,  with  tins  very  purpose 
of  repressing  emigration  to  the  west. — (See  his  last  speech.)  The 
professors  disagree ! 


REVIEW    OF    CAMBKELENG.  43 

most  hurried  performance,  is  not  consistent  even  in  this  simple 
declaration.  It  suits  his  argument,  more  than  once,  to  repre 
sent  us  in  another  light.  We  are  sometimes  naturally  a  com 
mercial  country  (p.  21).  And  again;  we  are  a  people  of 
such  strong  propensity  for  manufacturing,  as  even  prematurely 
to  engage  in  it  (p.  6). 

We  think,  however,  that  we  have  said  enough  to  show 
that  Mr.  Cambreleng  is  entitled  neither  to  the  emigration  of 
New  England,  nor  to  the  monopoly,  in  his  argument  against 
the  tariff ;  and,  it  would  seem,  that  he  has  as  little  claim  to 
set  down  the  diminution  in  the  value  of  agricultural  products 
to  that  source.  Indeed,  his  own  argument  upon  emigration 
ought  to  have  solved  that  problem  for  him.  The  cotton 
planters  have  about  the  same  sort  of  monopoly  that  the  manu 
facturers  have  ;  and  the  consequences  have  been  exactly  the 
same.  Nature  has  imposed  her  protection  on  the  product, 
and  the  monopolists  have  increased  so  rapidly,  that  the  com 
petition  has  furnished  a  tenfold  supply.  Upwards  of  one  hun 
dred  thousand  square  miles  of  land  have  been  opened  to  the 
planters,  and  the  quantity  of  the  material  has  increased  from 
about  20,000,000  of  pounds  in  1800,  to  294,000,000  in  1827. 
As  it  is  the  natural  tendency  of  all  competition  to  bring  down 
price,  we  have  at  once  a  short  explanation  of  the  diminution 
of  value  of  which  Mr.  Cambreleng  speaks.  It  is  needless 
to  look  beyond  this  cause,  for  it  is  entirely  adequate  to  the 
effect ;  and  it  does  seem  to  us  to  argue  a  perversity  of  preju 
dice,  to  travel  to  so  remote  and  uncertain  a  source  as  the 
supposed  unfriendliness  of  the  protective  system  to  population, 
to  escape  so  simple  a  conclusion.  Indeed,  to  our  concep 
tions,  it  seems  particularly  unfortunate  in  the  argument,  be 
cause  we  could  not  imagine  any  device  better  calculated  to 
prevent  this  overstocking  of  the  agricultural  class  than  the 
manufacturing  system,  and,  especially,  that  kind  of  manufac 
ture  which  consumes,  in  immense  quantities,  this  very  product. 
All  the  economists  argue  strongly  in  favor  of  manufactures, — 
none  more  than  Adam  Smith, — from  their  admirable  adaptation 


44  POLITICAL    PAPERS. 

to  consume  the  accumulations  of  agriculture.*  The  only 
question  they  have  entertained  was,  whether  manufactures 
will  not  grow  better  without  protection  than  with  it,  but  of  the 
importance  of  their  growth,  and  their  singularly  prosperous 
influence  upon  a  home  market,  we  do  not  remember  ever  to 
have  read  a  dissenting  opinion.  We  take  it  for  granted,  that 
Mr.  C.  himself  has  no  disposition  to  controvert  this  point 
with  us,  and  that  he  would  rather  endeavor  to  make  good 
his  case  by  asserting,  that  there  were  actually  no  manufactures 
in  New  England.  He  firmly  believes  that  our  manufactures 
have  not  grown  up  under  the  influence  of  the  tariff;  but,  in 
fact,  have  been  rather  repressed  and  hindered  by  it.  When 
he  proves  this  point  to  the  satisfaction  of  one  intelligent 
friend,  on  his  own  side  of  the  question,  we  shall,  perhaps, 
examine  his  documents,  and  attempt  to  entertain  him  with 
some  further  extracts  from  the  report,  upon  the  injury  done 
to  commerce  by  the  immense  diversion  of  capital  into  new 
channels  of  industry — upon  his  horror  of  monopolies,  and 
other  matter  connected  therewith.  For  the  present,  we  will 

*  Smith  and  Say  both  descant  upon  the  value  of  manufactures,  as 
essential  to  the  prosperity  and  greatness  of  a  nation.  They  in  common 
with  other  economists,  agree  in  calling  the  manufacturing,  the  rich 
nations,  and  the  agricultural  the  poor.  Even  Dr.  Cooper  (in  his 
speech  at  Columbia,  July,  1827),  does  homage  to  the  great  importance 
of  this  interest,  and  its  claims  to  encouragement  and  protection.  We 
will  spare  the  Doctor  any  reference  to  his  commendations  of  the 
restrictive  system  in  1813.  He  has  repented  of  that,  and  sung  his 
palinode.  We  cannot  say  we  are  sorry  for  it. 

Adam  Smith  goes  further  upon  this  subject  than  is  generally  be 
lieved  of  him  :  as  the  following  extract  will  show  : 

"  From  the  beginning  of  the  reign  of  Elizabeth,  too,  the  English 
Legislature  has  been  peculiarly  attentive  to  the  interests  of  com 
merce  and  manufactures ;  and,  in  reality,  there  is  no  country  in 
Europe,  Holland  itself,  not  excepted,  of  which  the  law  is,  upon  the 
whole,  more  favorable  to  this  sort  of  industry." — Wealth  of  Na 
tions,  Hartford  Edition,  p.  325. 

What  country  has  been  more  severe  in  restrictions  than  England 
or  Holland  ? 


REVIEW   OF    CAMBRELENG.  45 

e'en  rest  in  the  faith  that  there  are  some  few  manufacturing 
establishments  erected  in  the  United  States ;  and  that  they 
do  consume  kome  portions  of  cotton,  of  grain,  and  other  agri 
cultural  products.  Lord  Peter  shall  never  persuade  us  that 
bread  is  any  thing  but  bread  ! 

We,  therefore,  dismiss  this  branch  of  the  report,  and  take 
the  liberty  to  say  that  we  presume  the  learned  chairman  means 
merely  to  be  pleasant,  when  he  tells  us  that  "  notwithstanding 
all  our  legislation,  we  are  as  little  of  a  manufacturing  people 
now  as  we  were  at  the  adoption  of  the  Constitution  !" 

Upon  the  sixth  proposition  Mr.  C.  has  made  a  display  wor 
thy  of  himself  and  his  subject.  If  we  had  not  already  become 
familiar  with  the  cast  of  his  mind,  we  should  stand  aghast 
with  his  deductions  upon  this  point.  It  presents  one  of  the 
most  tremendous  explosions  of  opinion  that  has  ever  burst 
upon  the  people  of  this  land.  The  worthy  chairman  has  fairly 
wrought  himself  up  into  the  true  Munchausen  vein,  when  he 
descants  upon  the  vigor  of  our  contraband  trade.  It  is  impos 
sible,  he  tells  us,  "  to  measure  the  extent  of  a  trade,  the  exist 
ence  of  which  depends  on  secrecy  and  despatch  ;  but  we  may 
form  some  opinion  of  its  growth,  by  contrasting  our  present 
duties,  revenue  and  population,  with  those  which  existed  more 
than  twenty  years  ago.  Under  our  former  moderate  duties, 
the  net  revenue  from  customs  had  risen  to  sixteen  millions  an 
nually.  The  ten  preceding  years,  from  1818  to  1827  inclu 
sive,  averaged  about  eighteen  millions  annually,  although  we 
had,  in  the  mean  time,  doubled  our  population  and  our  duties. 
Had  our  consumption  continued  to  increase,  even  in  a  ratio  to 
our  population,  and  had  our  high  duties  been  enforced,  instead 
of  eighteen,  we  ought  now  to  have  collected  an  annual  reve 
nue  of  forty  or  fifty  millions" — (p.  26).  From  all  which  he 
has  brought  himself  to  the  modest  conviction,  that  our  smug 
gling  at  present  strips  the  revenue  of  about  TWENTY  OR 
THIRTY  MILLIONS  annually !!!— Bravo  !  And  all  this 
from  the  tariff.  The  country  owes  her  everlasting  gratitude 
to  Mr.  Cambreleng  for  this  valuable  discovery. 


46 


POLITICAL    PAPERS. 


Not  to  be  behindhand  with  him  in  zeal  to  open  the  eyes 
of  our  countrymen,  we  shall  improve  upon  the  hint  he  has 
given  us,  and  endeavor  to  construct  a  table  to  show  the  amount 
that  has  been  smuggled  into  the  United  States:  taking  his 
$16,000,000  of  customs  in  1807  as  zero,  and  rising  with  the 
population. 

In  1818  the  customs  amounted  to  The  smuggling  was 

upwards  of  17  millions.  then  about     8  millions. 

1819  ...  20        ".....          6 

1820  •'.'•;       15        " 12 

1821  ...  13        " 15 

1822  .        .17        "    .        .        .        .  -     .-   *.    13 

1823  .       ...  19        "        .        .       .        .    ......        14 

1824  .        .       17        "    .        .      V      .        .        .    17 

1825  .        .        .20        "        .        .        .        .        .16 

1826  .    ;';       23        "    .''    :';s.  :     I*'  ;-.!;      .    "   .    15 

1827  .•-•.        .19        "      ••;        •'. " •:.-•  '  .  '      .        20 

1828  .        .23        "    .        V\  fll  0  •.     ;   .  ;.:  '-.;    16 

Total  in  11  years,      .  T'    .     ';;.  ''!  .  '   "V      .      152 

The  Exchequer  robbed  of  one  hundred  and  fifty-two  mil 
lions  since  1818  !  What  a  lesson  for  the  enthusiasts  upon  re 
publican  virtue  !  What  an  exhibition  of  mercantile  patriotism ! 
What  a  commentary  upon  a  custom-house  oath  !  And,  above 
all,  what  a  magnificent  idea  for  Mr.  Cambreleng's  brain! 
and  yet,  with  this  awful  display  before  him,  the  worthy  chair 
man  is  of  opinion  (after  Mr.  Huskisson),  that  a  maximum  duty 
of  thirty  per  cent,  ad  valorem,  has  been  ascertained  to  be,  "  af 
ter  centuries  of  experience,  the  safest  for  the  revenue,  and  the 
best  for  manfactures" — (p.  38).  Why,  sir,  the  duties  up  to  1824 
were  not  even  as  high,  in  most  cases,  as  30  per  cent  ;  and  yet, 
in  the  seven  years  under  those  rates,  it  seems  (upon  the  au 
thority  of  the  committee)  that  we  smuggled  with  as  keen  a  rel 
ish  as  we  have  ever  done  since.  There  were  up  to  that  period 
95,000,000,  unlawfully  purloined  from  the  Treasury  !  And  what 
must  have  been  the  amount  of  merchandise  thus  surreptitious 
ly  introduced.  In  1825  the  imports  were  valued  at  $96,000,- 


KEVIEW    OF    CAMBREL  ENG.  47 

ooo  :  and  that  sum  only  yielded  20,000,000  of  customs.  At 
this  rate  the  95,000,000,  out  of  which  the  government  was  de 
frauded,  in  the  seven  years  of  thirty  per  cent,  duties,  must 
have  represented  merchandise  to  the  value  of — let  us  see  : 
If  20  give  96,  what  will  95  give  ? — four  hundred  and  forty  three 
millions  of  dollars  !  And  the  whole  152  give  us  seven  hundred 
and  twenty-two  millions  of  dollars'  worth  of  goods  let  into  the 
country  in  eleven  years  by  stealth !  It  is,  really,  time  to 
change  our  system ! 

But,  what  is  remarkable  about  it,  the  tariff  of  1824  made 
but  little  difference  in  this  rapacious  and  lawless  spirit ;  the 
smuggling  for  the  next  two  years  being  even  less  than  before. 
What  an  amount  of  tonnage  must  have  been  employed  in  this 
illicit  trade  !  Nearly  equal  to  that  engaged  in  the  lawful  trade  : 
and  yet  scarcely  a  ton  of  it  registered  : — for  Mr.  Cambreleng 
shows  us  that  in  1807  our  foreign  tonnage  was  1,089,876 
while  in  1827  it  was  900,199.  Consequently,  all  the  balance 
of  tonnage  necessary  for  this  immense  smuggling  trade — 
greater  in  1827  than  the  lawful — must  have  been  in  unregis 
tered  vessels,  either  of  our  own  or  foreign  construction,  some 
thing  like  900,000  tons  of  secreted  shipping !  Verily,  Mr. 
C.  says  true,  "  we  have  vast  and  imaginary  boundaries," — and 
some  vast  and  imaginary  statesmen  ?  But  Mr.  C  claims  a 
deduction  for  diminished  consumption.  He  insists  that  the 
protective  system  of  this  country  has  curtailed  the  supplies 
of  the  people — nay,  he  goes  further,  and  affirms  that  it  has 
particularly  oppressed  the  poorer  classes ;  that  the  consump 
tion,  in  fact,  has  been  growing  less,  ever  since  the  era  of  re 
strictions.  Yet,  with  his  usual  blindness  to  inconsistent  aver 
ments,  he  tells  us  (pages  5,  6)  that  the  system  of  restrictions 
"  has  derived  some  degree  of  popularity  from  the  reduction 
of  prices" — that  "  every  year  our  wants  have  been  supplied  at 
a  cheaper  rate," — and  that,  "  it  is  impossible  to  anticipate, 
should  the  peace  continue,  to  what  minimum  rates  prices  may 
be  reduced."  With  this  admission,  what  becomes  of  his 
diminished  consumption  ?  It  is  against  every  theory  of  politi- 


48  POLITICAL    PAPERS. 

cal  economy  to  suppose  that  consumption  can  diminish  under 
this  accelerated  and  continuing  depression  of  prices,  and, 
much  less  rational  is  it  to  suppose,  that  smuggling  could  pre 
vail  to  any  extent,  under  such  a  state  of  things.  Mr.  Cam- 
breleng  must  either  assume  an  increase  of  prices,  or  abandon 
his  diminished  consumption, — and  thus  leave  his  smuggling 
trade  unmitigated  by  that  circumstance, — or  else  abandon  his 
smuggling  altogether.  There  could  not  be  woven  together 
a  tissue  of  greater  absurdities.  The  things  are  quite  in 
compatible. 

But  the  friends  of  free  trade  have  ever  been  remarkable 
for  the  most  incorrigible  obliquity  of  argument.  They  never 
fail  to  overleap  the  plain  and  obvious  conclusions  presented 
by  facts,  for  the  sake  of  some  remote,  ungenial  deduction, 
which  the  facts  never  warrant,  and  which  is  sure  even  to  bring 
them  into  a  state  of  direct  opposition.  They  can  see  the 
wonderful  decline  of  prices,  but  they  will  neither  understand 
their  cause  nor  effect.  The  question  is,  really,  a  very  clear  one. 
The  cause  of  the  fall  of  prices  has  been,  most  obviously,  the 
competition  both  at  home  and  abroad.  The  restrictive  system 
has  built  up  manufactures  at  home  :  these  have  not  only 
entered  into  a  brisk  competition  with  each  other,  but  they 
have  excited  emulation  abroad  to  underwork  them, — both  in 
foreign  markets,  to  which  we  export  our  manufactures,  and  in 
our  own  markets  notwithstanding  the  duty.  The  effect  has 
been  continual  reduction  of  price ; — the  very  consequence 
attributed  to  this  competition  by  General  Hamilton,  and  pre 
dicted,  uniformly,  by  the  friends  of  protection  in  the  United 
States.  Without  our  domestic  manufactures  this  result  never 
could  have  taken  place.  The  British,  having  possession  of 
the  market,  would  never  have  reduced  their  prices  below  the 
effects  of  their  own  competition.  So  that,  whether  we  could 
now  get  our  supplies  cheaper  in  England  than  formerly,  or 
not,  it  is  very  evident  that,  but  for  our  protective  system,  we 
never  could  have  done  so  ;  and  that  as  soon  as  we  should  be 
exposed  again  to  the  full  sweep  of  the  British  capital,  undis- 


REVIEW    OF    CAMBRELEMi.  - 

turbed  by  our  home  competition,  we  should  have  the  prices 
up  again  to  the  old  standard.*  The  consumer,  therefore,  in 
this  country  has  profited,  and  must  continue  to  profit  by  the 
measure.  Mr.  Cambreleng  may  gravely  assure  us  of  the 
diminished  consumption,  but  who  can  believe  him  ?  Does  k 
not  excite  a  smile  to  hear  an  observant  American  statesman 
tell  us,  at  this  day,  that  we  consume  less  than  we  did  ten  years 


*  The  British  are  now  prepared  to  make  any  sacrifices  to  ruin 
our  establishments.  A  few  years  of  reduced  prices  would  subject 
them  to  a  loss  which  the  Government  would  willingly  incur,  if  it 
would  break  up  our  manufactures,  because,  released  from  the  com 
petition,  they  could  indemnify  themselves  by  the  command  of  prices 
which  they  would  thus  insure  in  an  uninterrupted  market.  Such  a 
policy  is  not  new  to  British  ministers.  We  take  the  liberty  to  make  the 
following  extract  from  a  pamphlet  published  by  Mr.  George  Tibbitts, 
of  New  York,  in  1829 — (to  which  we  beg  leave  to  refer  our  readers 
as  one  of  the  best  expositions  of  the  protective  policy  that  we  have 
seen).  "  It  was  known,  when  the  markets  in  Europe  were  shut 
against  England,  by  the  decrees  of  Bonaparte,  that  the  English  Gov 
ernment  formed  an  establishment  on  the  little  barren  island  of  Heli 
goland,  near  the  mouth  of  the  Elbe,  as  a  depot  and  place  from 
which  goods  could  be  readily  got  on  to  the  continent,  and  from  which 
large  quantities  of  goods  found  their  way  from  England  to  the  con 
tinent.  It  was  known,  also,  that  the  English  Government  sent  large 
sums  of  money  to  the  continent  as  subsidies  to  the  powers  in  their 
interest,  which  cramped  their  metallic  circulation  at  times  very 
much.  But  it  has,  but  lately,  been  generally  known,  that  to  get  this 
money  back,  and  keep  every  thing  quiet  at  home,  goods,  to  large 
amounts,  were  sent  to  the  continent  at  the  distance  of  Government, 
who  guaranteed  the  adventures  against  loss  of  every  kind;  which  cost 
the  Government  millions" — p.  27. 

Even  without  the  aid  of  Government,  the  manufacturers  of 
Great  Britain  would  be  content  to  spend  something  to  run  us  down, 
if  tliey  were  sure  of  success.  It  is  the  spirit  of  trade.  We  have 
now  an  exemplification  of  it,  in  the  "  Old"  and  "  Opposition"  lines 
of  coaches  from  this  to  Washington.  The  "  old  line"  are  running 
below  cost,  in  hopes  to  drive  the  "  opposition  Yankees"  off  the  field. 
No  one  doubts  how  the  "  old"  will  reimburse  itself  if  they  succeed. 
At  the  present  time  the  prices,  like  Mr.  Cambreleng's,  have  "  declined 
astonishingly." 
3 


50  POLITICAL    PAPERS. 

ago  ?  Was  there  ever  a  fact  more  open  to  the  contradiction 
of  the  senses  ?  There  is  not  a  laborer,  perhaps,  in  our 
country,  that  does  not  wear  two  shirts  now,  where  he  wore  one 
at  that  time  : — the  increasing  comforts  of  the  country  are 
marvellous  to  all  observation  :  our  citizens  are  better  clothed, 
better  fed,  and  more  steadily  employed  in  industrious  pursuits 
than  they  ever  were  before.  It  is  true,  that  a  certain  class 
of  merchants  do  not  get  the  same  extravagant  profits  on 
capital,  but  every  other  interest  in  the  country  has  been 
brought  nearer  to  an  equality  of  comfort  with  them.  This 
fact  is  sufficient,  of  itself,  to  illustrate  Mr.  Cambreleng's  zeal, 
and  opens  the  whole  secret  of  the  applauding  fervors  of  Gotham. 
We  regard  it,  however,  as  a  consummation  full  of  splendid 
realities,  working  its  miracles  among  our  people  with  a  noto 
riety  that  cannot  escape  even  the  prejudiced  observation  of 
Mr.  Cambreleng  himself.  It  is  in  vain  to  say  that  this  pro 
cess  of  reduction  in  price  has  been  the  ordinary  settling  down 
of  war  rates  to  rates  of  peace.  The  process  has  not  even 
followed  the  successive  operations  of  that  cause.  The  fall 
did  not  commence  immediately  after  the  peace  ;  it  came 
almost  per  saltum,  upon  our  protecting  duties.  The  tariff  of 
sixteen  did  but  little  for  it ;  the  tariff  of  twenty-four  acted 
like  a  charm.  But  what  does  Mr.  Cambreleng  mean  by 
"  the  salutary  influence  of  peace  on  the  labors  of  mankind," 
if  he  does  not  include  in  it,  the  very  competition  of  which 
we  have  been  speaking?  And  will  he  be  so  bold  as  to  deny 
that  our  protective  system  has  given  rise  to  no  competition, 
plainly  ascribable  to  itself?  If  he  does,  how  will  he  account 
for  the  fact  that  in  1820  we  exported  but  two  millions'  worth 
of  domestic  manufactures,  and  that  in  1827  we  exported  the 
value  of  six  millions  and  a  half,  when  the  prices  had  fallen  to 
less  than  50  per  cent,  upon  their  value  in  1820  ?  Does  this 
fact  speak  nothing  in  favor  of  our  protective  system,  and  its 
effect  upon  foreign  competition  ?  Has  it  excited  no  emula 
tion  on  the  part  of  our  English  rivals  ?  Have  they  had  no 
fears  of  the  American  manufactures,  which  could  thus  gain  a 


REVIEW    OF    CAMBRELENG.  51 

footing  in  foreign  parts  where  they  met  upon  terms  of  perfect 
equality.*  Have  they  been  silent  about  the  influence  of  the 
protective  system  ?  Or  have  they  not  given  forth  the  usual 
diagnostics  of  their  irritated  nervous  habit,  in  reduplicated 
efforts  to  persuade  us  of  the  value  of  free  trade,  and  the  policy 
of  dismissing  our  system  ? — the  most  certain  index  that  Great 
Britain  ever  affords  of  her  dread  of  the  consequences.  Under 
all  these  circumstances  can  we  be  so  blind  as  to  take  the 
bait? 

We  should  say,  there  are  motives  to  distrust  Mr.  Cambrel- 
eng  and  his  friends  sufficiently  strong  to  refuse  his  evidence 
on  the  subject  altogether.  We  cannot  place  confidence  in 
the  judgment  of  one  so  singularly  hoodwinked  as  to  facts. 
The  interest  which  he  represents,  the  tone  in  which  he 
represents  it,  and  the  fatal  delusions  of  his  philosophy,  are 
sufficient  to  discredit  him  as  a  witness.  The  factor  part  of 
the  City  of  New  York  have  a  very  perceptible  interest  to  per 
suade  us  to  take  every  thing  across  the  Atlantic,  and  bring 
every  thing  back.  It  is  like  the  interest  of  the  hack-men  and 
boot-blacks  of  Washington,  to  pray  continually  for  foul  weather. 
"Your  cursed  fine  days"  set  people  to  using  their  own  re 
sources — they  break  up  the  carriage-hire  and  the  cleaning.  The 
protective  system  encourages  American,  instead  of  English 
labor,  and,  of  course,  the  carrier  and  his  agents,  between 
America  and  Great  Britain  are  the  losers.  Its  effect  upon  the 
regular,  substantial  merchant  of  the  country  is  just  the  reverse : 
it  expands  his  means,  multiplies  his  products,  increases  his 

*  We  are  unable  to  furnish  the  history  of  the  negotiations  be 
tween  Great  Britain  and  the  Government  of  Buenos  Ayres,  and 
otlier  powers  in  South  America,  some  two  or  three  years  back.  But 
their  import  is  well  understood.  The  fear  of  American  competition 
there  has  been  something  more  than  an  idle  vision.  These  things 
will  come  to  light  in  good  time.  Even  now  the  British  cottons,  in 
that  quarter,  owe  their  currency  to  fraud.  They  are  flimsy  imita 
tions  of  substantial  American  wares, — bearing  counterfeit  marks. 
In  the  way  of  fair  trade,  it  is  seen  that  our  manufactures  are  able  to 
keep  their  ground  even  against  this  competition. 


52  POLITICAL    PAPERS. 

adventure,  and  bears  his  flag  to  the  uttermost  parts  of  the 
earth. 

We  think  we  have  said  enough  to  show  that  the  reduction 
of  prices  is  nothing  more  than  the  legitimate  effect  of  our  sys 
tem.  It  is  the  effect  foretold  by  the  friends  of  the  tariff,  and 
denied  d  priori  by  its  enemies.  Both  parties  have  appealed 
to  time  as  the  arbiter.  And  time  has  given  it  in  our  favor. 
The  free-trade  politicians  foretold,  and  Mr.  C.  still  repeats  the 
augury,  that  every  thing  was  to  rise  in  value.  We  think  it  un- 
philosophical,  or  at  least,  a  very  suspicious  symptom  of  weak 
ness,  to  ascribe  predicted  consequences,  after  they  have  ar 
rived,  to  any  other  than  the  causes  counted  on  by  those  who 
prophecied ;  and,  much  more  so,  when  the  predictions  were 
manifold  and  particular ;  and  when  they  who  deny  the  con 
nection  between  the  cause  and  effect,  can  only  account  for  the 
contingency,  by  strained,  far-fetched,  and  unintelligible  conject 
ures.  But  whether  they  be  right  or  wrong  in  their  philosophy, 
all  agree  that  the  prices,  as  Mr.  C.  asserts,  have  declined  aston 
ishingly  since  the  war ;  and  that  being  the  case,  the  stupen 
dous  vision  of  unlawful  trade  which  has  disturbed  the  dreams 
of  Mr.  Cambreleng,  must  flit  away  to  join  the  other  morbid 
creations  of  the  dreamer's  fancy,  in  that  unvisited  realm  of  fairy 
wonders,  where  the  free-trade  system  flourishes  in  pure  and 
immeasurable  luxuriance — and  where  alone  it  flourishes. 

Our  next  concern  is  with  Mr.  Cambreleng's  picture  of  our 
navigation.  The  seventh  proposition  in  our  list  affirms,  what 
the  reader  will  find  sedulously  inculcated  throughout  the  re 
port,  that  the  protective  system  is  destructive  to  oiw  naviga 
tion  ;  that  it  has  reduced  our  shipping  below  what  it  was  in 
1 80 1 ;  and  that,  by  contrasting  its  present  and  past  condition, 
"  we  shall  learn  to  feel  no  small  degree  of  alarm,  lest  our  fatal 
restrictions  should  have  already  driven  us  too  far  in  the  rear 
of  all  our  rivals  for  national  power  and  naval  ascendancy" — 
(page  1 8.) 

In  the  argument  which  we  propose  to  hold  with  Mr.  Cam 
breleng  on  this  subject,  we  give  him  warning  that  we  do  not 


REVIEW    OF    CAMBRELENG.  53 

mean  to  take  advantage  of  his  great  commercial  marine  em- 
'  ployed  in  his  smuggling  operations  ;  but  we  would  respectfully 
suggest  to  the  learned  chairman,  as  some  relief  to  his  solici 
tude  for  our  naval  ascendancy,  that  he  has  furnished  us  a 
brilliant  school  for  our  navy  in  these  stormy  and  midnight  ad 
ventures  on  the  coast ;  the  very  best  training  that  we  could 
imagine  to  make  brave  and  wily  seamen  for  the  wars.  It  has 
a  high  Spartan  smack  after  the  best  fashion  of  Lycurgus. 
But  as  it  would  be  ungenerous,  not  to  say  cruel,  in  us  to  use 
these  forces  against  the  very  author  of  their  being,  we  shall 
even  confine  ourselves  to  the  records  of  the  Custom-house. 

Mr.  Cambreleng,  in  this  branch  of  his  argument  is  reduced 
to  great  distress.  His  case  absolutely  requires  a  destruction 
of  our  navigation.  It  is  a  sine  qua  non  to  his  success,  and 
make  it  out  he  must,  at  all  hazards — if  not  totidem  verbis, — then 
totidem  syllabis  ; — for  his  whole  scheme  of  vituperation  would 
be  undermined,  if  it  should,  unfortunately,  turn  out  that  our 
navigation  was  in  a  prosperous  way.  It  is  like  Shakspeare's 
being  obliged  to  kill  Mercutio,  lest  Mercutio  should  kill  him. 
Never  was  the  triumph  of  arithmetic  more  complete,  than  in 
the  hands  of  our  worthy  chairman  !  He  has  succeeded  after 
a  laborious  search  and  many  trials,  through  a  maze  of  figures, 
in  finding  the  exact  proportions  he  desired.  The  discovery 
has  done  wonders,  he  is  even  astonished  at  his  own  conclu 
sions.  He  knew  the  thing  was  bad  enough,  but  he  was  not 
prepared  for  such  a  charming  list  of  horrors  as  he  has  brought 
to  light. 

In  the  first  place,  insisting  upon  it,  that  the  free-trade  sys 
tem  prevailed  up  to  the  year  1807,  it  was  useful  to  show,  that 
up  to  this  period,  the  influence  of  this  system  had  worked 
miracles  in  favor  of  the  navigation.  He  therefore  tells  us 
that  our  foreign  tonnage  had  risen  from  127,329  tons  in  1789 
to  1,089,876  in  1807,  a  clear  increase  of  962, 547  tons  in  19 
years.  Now,  the  common  opinion  has  been  that  the  free-trade 
system  had  nothing  to  do  with  this — on  the  contrary,  there  are 
shrewd  doubts  among  the  professors  themselves,  whether  there 


54  POLITICAL    PAPERS. 

was,  in  fact,  at  that  time,  what  might  be  entitled  free  trade  at 
all ; — whether  our  discriminating  duties  and  tonnage,  upon 
which  we  have  already  commented,  were  not  part  and  parcel 
of  our  very  protective  system.  We  think,  decidedly,  that 
there  was  the  true  protective  principle  in  it ;  and  so  do 
our  friends  on  the  other  side  of  the  Atlantic.  But  waiving 
that,  there  was  a  still  more  potent  cause  which  Mr.  C.  is 
equally  bound  to  disparage. 

The  foreign  wars  and  our  neutrality  threw  upon  us  the 
carrying  trade  of  Europe ;  and  the  impression  has  been  uni 
versal,  among  the  best  informed  persons  in  the  United  States, 
that  our  navigation  owed  much  of  its  success  to  that  fact.  But 
this  it  seems  is  not  true.  It  was  a  stumbling-block  in  the 
way  of  Mr.  Cambreleng's  argument,  and  he  demolishes  it  with 
a  flat  rebuke  upon  the  folly  of  such  a  notion ; — "  those  who 
think  so,  take  but  a  superficial  view  of  the  causes  which  gave 
a  strong  impulse  to  our  navigation  at  that  early  period."  "  Our 
navigation,"  he  continues,  "  grew  more  rapidly  before  the  con 
tinental  war,  when  we  had  nothing  to  carry  but  our  own  pro 
duce,  than  it  did  at  any  period  afterwards.  In  three  years 
from  1789  to  '92  the  increase  was  near  300,000  tons:  from 
1793  to  '96  it  ought  to  have  increased  a  greater  amount,  but 
it  was  not  much  over  200,000  tons,  showing  clearly  a  more  rapid 
increase,  both  in  ratio  and  amount,  before  than  after  the  war 
broke  out" — (page  19).  Such  is  the  short  summary  by  which 
Mr.  C.  persuades  himself  that  he  is  able  to  overthrow  the  es 
tablished  opinions  of  the  whole  nation,  fortified  by  the  most 
irresistible  documentary  evidence,  as  well  as  by  the  personal 
observation  and  experience  of  our  citizens,  in  regard  to  the 
extent  of  the  carrying  trade.  Independent  of  all  aid  derived 
from  our  tonnage  returns,  the  statement  of  our  exports  is  con 
clusive  upon  the  subject.  The  value  of  our  whole  exports,  in 
the  year  ending  September,  1790,  was  $20,205,156  ;  in  1791, 
it  was  $19,012,041 ;  in  1792  it  was  $20,753,098.  In  1796  our 
exports  of  foreign  merchandise  alone,  were  $26,300,000  ;  in  1800, 
they  were  $39,130,877  ;  in  1805,  they  were  $53,i79>019;  m 


KEVIEW   OF   CAMBBELENG. 


55 


1806,  they  were  $60,283,236;  in  1807,  they  were  $59,643,558. 
While  in  1 8 18,  our  foreign  exports  amounted  to  $19,426,696; 
in  1820,  to  $18,008,029  ;  in  1824,  to  $25,337,157  ;  and  in  1827, 
to  $23,403,156.  This  statement  furnishes  the  most  satisfacto 
ry  evidence  as  to  the  condition  of  the  carrying  trade,  which  be 
gan  about  1796,  and  ended  with  our  war  restrictions.  The 
amount  of  these  exports,  of  articles  the  growth  of  foreign  coun 
tries,  shows  the  extent  of  the  trade  which  the  United  States 
carried  on  for  other  nations.  In  the  note  below,*  we  have  given 
a  table  of  these  exports,  as  compared  with  the  domestic  exports, 
which  will  show,  at  once,  the  fallacy  of  Mr.  Cambreleng's  ar 
gument.  But  we  have  to  charge  him  with  a  still  greater  inac 
curacy  on  this  point.  He  would  have  us  believe,  that  the  ton 
nage  of  the  United  States  increased  from  1789  to  1792  by  near 
300,000  tons.  His  misrepresentation  in  this  matter  is  of  an 

*  Statement  showing  the  estimated  value  of  the  domestic  and  for 
eign  merchandise  annually  exported  from  tlie  United  States  to  for 
eign  countries. 


Articles  the  growth, 

Articles  of  foreign 

Total  value  of 

produce,  or  manufac 

growth,  produce,  or 

exports. 

ture  of  the  U.  States. 

manufacture. 

1800 

.       $31,840,903 

$39,130,877 

$70,971,780 

1801 

47,473,204 

46,642,721 

94,115,925 

1802        .    • 

36,708,189 

35,774,971 

72,483,160 

1803 

42,205,961 

13,594,072 

55,800,033 

1804       \ 

.        41,467,477 

36,231,597 

77,699,074 

1805 

42,387,002 

53,179,019 

95,566,021 

1806 

41,253,727 

60,283,236 

101,536,963 

1807 

48,699,592 

59,643,558 

108,343,150 

1818 

73,854,437 

19,426,696 

93,281,133 

1819 

.     -  50,976,838 

19,165,683 

70,142,521 

1820        . 

51,683,640 

18,008,029 

69,691,669 

1821 

43,671,894 

21,302,488 

64,974,382 

1822 

49,874,079 

22,286,286 

72,160,281 

1823 

/      47,155,409 

27,543,202 

74,699,030 

1824 

50,649,500 

25,337,157 

75,986,657 

1825 

66,944,745 

32,590,643 

99,535,388 

1826      -. 

53,055,710 

24,539,612 

77,595,322 

1827 

58,921,691 

23,403,136 

82,324,827 

50  POLITICAL    PAPERS. 

eager  and  absurd  aspect.  We  are  scarcely  willing  to  save  his 
veracity  by  the  sacrifice  which  it  compels  us  to  make  of  his 
judgment.  In  1789  our  registered  tonnage,  according  to  Mr. 
C.,  was  127,329  tons;  in  1790  it  was  354,767  ;  an  increase 
in  one  year  of  227,436.  Now  does  not  this  very  increase  show, 
that  in  the  first  year  of  the  Government  but  little  more  than  one 
third  of  our  existing  tonnage  had  been  registered  ?  Is  Mr.  C. 
so  infatuated  with  his  own  conclusions,  as  to  believe  that  this 
increase  was  new  tonnage?  The  augmentation  for  the  next 
year  was  but  8,895  tons,  and  of  the  year  following,  51,017  tons. 
Why  did  not  the  increase  of  the  next  two  years  hold  some  pro 
portion  to  the  first  ?  It  is  almost  incredible  that  any  intelli 
gent  writer  could  make  such  a  mistake.  And  yet  upon  this 
frail  foundation  Mr.  C.  has  ventured  to  erect  an  argument,  the 
import  of  which  is,  to  charge  all  men  with  superficial  views  of 
the  subject  who  could  not  see  with  his  eyes  the  strength  he  at 
taches  to  so  flimsy  a  statement.  The  probability  is,  that  the  in 
crease  of  the  tonnage,  in  the  first  year,  was  very  little  above  that 
in  the  second  ;  while  the  enormous  and  increasing  amounts  of 
foreign  merchandise  exported  in  American  vessels,  after  1796, 
manifest  the  vigor  of  the  carrying  trade,  and  give  Mr.  C.'s  re 
mote  speculations  and  fantastic  notions  upon  the  influence  of 
unrestricted  commerce  to  the  winds. 

As  connected  with  this  error  Mr.  C.  attempts  to  alarm  us 
with  another  conclusion  :  "  the  mere  increase  of  our  foreign 
tonnage,  prior  to  1807,  exceeds  the  whole  amount  of  our  nav 
igation,  now  employed  in  our  intercourse  between  the  whole 
Union  and  all  nations,  nearly  150,000  tons" — (page  18). 

Although  his  phrase  is  ambiguous,  Mr.  C.  means  to  assert 
that  the  increase  in  our  foreign  tonnage,  in  those  years,  exceed 
ed  by  150,000  tons,  our  presentforeign  tonnage.  There  is  noth 
ing  wonderful  in  the  fact  if  it  were  true,  for  if  our  tonnage  had 
been  nothing  in  the  first  year  of  the  Government,  then  its  in 
crease  in  every  subsequent  year  would  have  been  equal  to  the 
whole  amount  of  tonnage  in  that  year;  and  Mr.  C.  has  lent 
his  aid  to  make  it  as  near  to  nothing  as  he  could.  It  is  much 


REVIEW    OF    CAMBRELENG.  57 

more  astonishing  that  the  increase  of  the  tonnage  in  the  first 
year  of  the  Government,  if  Mr.  C/s  calculation  were  true,  was 
greater,  both  in  ratio  and  amount,  than  it  has  been  in  any  year 
since.  And  yet  the  chairman  has  overlooked  this  singular  fact 
altogether.  If  he  had  seen  it,  he  would,  at  once,  have  discov 
ered  that  the  returns  of  1789  did  not  show  the  actual  amount 
of  shipping  for  that  year.  This  however  proves  nothing,  but 
what  never  was  denied,  namely,  that  our  tonnage  increased 
very  rapidly  up  to  1807,  and  the  more  rapidly  during  those 
years  in  which  we  enjoyed  our  immense  neutral  trade. 

Mr.  Cambreleng  goes  on  to  tell  us,  that  "  while  our  navi 
gation  has  remained,  at  best,  stationary,  that  of  our  rival  has 
advanced,  from  1815  to  1827,761,840  tons; — the  mere  in 
crease  alone  in  British  foreign  navigation,  amounting  nearly  to 
the  whole  foreign  tonnage  of  the  United  States" — (page  21). 
And  this,  he  attributes  to  the  fact  "  that  while  Great  Britain 
has  retrograded  from  prohibitory  to  moderate  duties,  we  have 
been  substituting  restrictions  for  free  trade." 

If  upon  an  investigation  of  the  fact,  it  should  appear  that 
British  navigation  so  far  from  increasing  has  actually  declined, 
and,  on  the  other  hand,  that  our  navigation  has  been  thriving, 
we  take  it  for  granted,  that  Mr.  Cambreleng  will  not  object  to 
our  making  advantage  of  the  principle  which  he  has  put  to  this 
test,  and  will  be  content  to  allow  that  this  decline,  on  the  one 
side,  and  improvement  on  the  other,  are  the  fair  and  legitimate 
consequences  of  that  "  simultaneous  change  in  the  policy  of 
the  two  nations,"  to  which  he  refers.  We  shall  hold  him  to 
this  admission,  although  we  do  not  bind  ourselves  to  admit 
what  we  do  not  believe — that  Great  Britain  has  advanced  one 
step  towards  a  free-trade  system. 

In  support  of  his  position  Mr.  Cambreleng  has  overwhelm 
ed  us  with  figures.  We  shall  give  these  an  attentive  examina 
tion,  and  offer  a  few  of  our  own  in  return.  To  prove  that  our 
navigation  has  remained,  at  best,  stationary,  he  has  given  us  a 
table  of  American  shipping  (registered  and  enrol  led)  for  each 
year  up  to  1828.  As  his  remarks  do  not  apply  to  the  period 


58  POLITICAL    PAPER- . 

up  to  1807,  we  shall  confine  our  view  to  the  tonnage  employ 
ed  in  foreign  trade,  since  1815.  By  Mr.  C.'s  own  table,  No.  4. 
— the  correctness  of  which  we  shall  have  occasion  hereafter  to 
dispute, — it  will  appear  that  the  average  annual  tonnage  from 
1815  to  1820,  inclusive,  is  783,021  tons,  while  the  annual  aver 
age  from  1821  to  1828,  is  836,398  tons  ; — an  excess  of  53,377 
tons  in  favor  of  each  year  of  the  latter  period :  and  of  the 
eight  years  from  1821  to  1828,  inclusive,  the  increase  in  the 
annual  average  tonnage  of  the  four  last  years  over  the  four  for 
mer,  are  88,266  tons.  This  is  what  Mr.  Cambreleng  calls  re 
maining  at  best,  but  stationary. 

Mr.  Cambreleng,  however,  has  been  guilty  of  a  deception, 
which  whether  it  springs  from  ignorance  or  from  design,  is 
equally  discreditable  to  his  argument.  In  his  note  to  his  table 
No.  4,  he  has  told  us  that  the  registry  of  tonnage  was  correct 
ed  in  1818.  The  registry  up  to  that  period,  contained  many 
vessels  that  had  been  lost,  rotted  away,  or  sold,  and  in  that 
year  these  were  ascertained,  and  a  corrected  registry  was 
made.  This  corrected  list  ought  to  have  been  furnished. 
But  Mr.  C.  chose  only  to  give  us  the  old  list  with  all  its  errors. 
The  new  one  would  have  presented  an  entirely  different  case.* 
It  would  have  shown  a  steady  increase  in  the  tonnage  every 

*  We  give  this  list  from  Watterston  and  Van  Zandt's  tables. 

In  1818  the  registered  tonnage  amounted  to        .         000,088  tons 

1819  .        .        ....        .....        »        .     012,930      " 

1820  -    .    .     .  .    ,;.    .    .  ... "... ...;'    .;;..     .    .    .        019,047     " 

1821  ...        .        .        .       «.    .    ,        .    019,890      " 

1822  .        .        .        .        .        ...        028,150      " 

1823  .        .        .        .        .        .        .'      .        .    039,920     •' 

1824  .        .        .        .        .        .        .        ,        990,072     " 

1825  .        .       .    '    .       ...        .        .        .    700,788     " 

1820          .  .        ...        .        .        .        .        737,978     " 

1827  .,.>,.        .        .       ....        .     700,903      " 

1828  .        .'      .        ....     ,  .      ,.        812,019     " 
This  statement  shows  an  increase  of  American  registered  tonnage 

of  200,531  tons  in  11  years.  Mr.  Cambreleng  has  asserted,  upon  the 
faith  of  a  table  that  he  knew  to  be  untrue,  that  our  tonnage  has  de 
creased,  since  1819,  by  52,781  tons. 


REVIEW    OF   CAMBBELENG. 


59 


year  since  that  period.  It  will  remain  for  Mr.  Cambreleng, 
and  the  committee  to  explain  with  what  views  this  misrepresen 
tation  has  been  promulgated. 

There  is  a  record  of  the  registers  granted,  and  another  of 
the  tonnage  entering  and  departing  from  the  United  States  in 
each  year.  If  instead  of  looking  at  the  registered  tonnage  Mr. 
C.  had  looked  at  the  tonnage  arriving  and  departing  in  the 
same  periods,  he  would  also  have  found  an  increase  in  our 
navigation.  In  order  therefore  to  supply  what  Mr.  Cambrel 
eng  seems  carefully  to  have  concealed,  we  have  annexed  a  ta 
ble  showing  the  amount  of  American  tonnage  entering  and  de 
parting  from  the  United  States  since  1821.*  There  having 
been  no  note  taken  of  the  departing  tonnage  until  1820,  we  are 


*  Table  showing  the  tonnage  entering  and  departing  from  the 
United  States,  and  also  showing  the  aggregate  of  foreign  and  Ameri 
can  tonnage  employed  in  our  trade. 


American 
vessels 

American 

vessels. 

Foreign 
vessels 

Foreign 

vessels 

Aggregate 
of  Ameri 

Aggregate   of 
American  & 

enter 

depart 

enter 

depart 

can  &  for 

foreign  ves 

ing. 

ing. 

ing. 

ing. 

eign  ves- 

sels  depart 

selsent'ring 

ing. 

1821 

705,098 

804,947 

81,526 

83,073 

846,624 

888,020 

1822 

787,901 

813,748 

100,541 

97,490 

888,502 

911,238 

1823 

775,271 

810,761 

119,468 

119,740 

894,739 

930,561 

1824 

850,033 

919,278 

102,367 

102,552 

952,400 

1,021,830 

1825 

880,754 

960,360 

92,927 

95,080 

973,681 

1,055,446 

1820 

942,200 

953,012 

105,054 

99,417 

1,047,860 

1,052,429 

1827 

918,301 

980,542 

137,589 

131,250 

1,055,950 

1,111,092 

1828 

868,381 

897,404 

150,223 

151,030 

1,018,604 

1,048,434 

7,678,300 

8,019,090 

1800 

682,871 

122,403 

805,274 

1801 

849,302 

157,270 

1,000,572 

1802 

798,805 

145,519 

944,324 

1803 

787,424 

163,714 

951,138 

1804 

821,962 

122,141 

944,103 

1805 

922.298 

87,842 

1,010,130 

1806 

1,044,005 

90,984 

1,134,989 

1807 

1,089,876 

86,780 

1,170,050 

7,973,200 

The  departing  tonnage  of  this  latter  period  is  not  furnished. 


60  POLITICAL    PAPER?. 

unable  to  give  the  comparison  in  a  former  period.  This  state 
ment,  however,  will  manifest  what  dependence  is  to  be  placed 
upon  the  assertion  that  our  navigation  is,  at  the  best,  but  sta 
tionary.  In  every  view  it  is  worthy  of  remark,  that  the  ton 
nage  has  increased  in  a  more  rapid  ratio  since  1824,  than  be 
fore,  and  in  the  year  1827  was  but  little  short  of  the  amount 
employed  by  the  United  States  in  that  most  prosperous  period 
when  we  enjoyed,  almost  exclusively,  the  commerce  of 
Europe :  and  showing,  we  think  very  conspicuously,  how  far 
from  hostile  the  restrictive  system  has  been  to  our  trade. 

We  have  framed  the  table  last  referred  to,  with  reference 
to  another  view,  in  which  we  wish  to  present  this  question  of 
commerce  and  navigation  to  our  readers.  Our  foreign  trade 
is  to  be  measured  by  the  tonnage  employed  in  its  transporta 
tion,  whether  in  our  own,  or  foreign  shipping.  We  have  there 
fore  given  the  foreign  tonnage  engaged  in  American  trade  and 
the  aggregate  of  that  and  our  own,  from  the  )iear  1800  to 
1807,  and  from  1821  to  1828.  The  whole  amount  thus  em 
ployed  in  the  first  eight  years  is  7,973,206  tons.  In  the  latter 
period  it  is  7,678,360  tons,  both  computed  of  the  tonnage  en 
tering.  The  aggregate  of  the  tonnage  departing,  during  the  last 
period,  is  8,019,690  tons.  This  affords  a  fair  exhibit  of  the 
American  shipping  when  engaged  under  circumstances  of  the 
most  extraordinary  advantage  to  trade,  and  subsequently,  when 
it  had  to  contend  against  a  world  at  peace,  and  all  the  compe 
tition  of  foreign  nations  struggling  to  gain  an  ascendancy  for 
their  marine.  The  comparison,  certainly,  presents  any  thing 
hut  a  declining  state  of  trade,  and  wholly  discredits  the  puerile 
ond  melancholy  deductions  of  Mr.  Cambreleng.  When  it  is 
understood  further, — what  is  affirmed  upon  the  most  respecta- 
l.le  authority,*  that  our  tonnage,  of  late  years,  is  rated  at  less 
;han  its  actual  capacity,  from  some  difference  in  the  mode  of 

*  Some  intelligent  merchants  and  ship  owners  have  estimated  the 

<  ifference  at  40  or  50  per  cent.,  and  others  still  higher.     It  is  said  to 
I  «  not  uncommon  for  a  ship  rated  at  800  tons  to  carry  a  cargo  of  450, 

<  r  500  tons.— Essex  Register,  March,  1830. 


REVIEW    OF    CAMBRELENG. 

constructing  our  ships,  there  is  ground  to  believe  that  our  ton 
nage  at  this  period  is  even  greater  in  amount  than  it  ever  was 
before. 

But  it  is  not  to  our  foreign  tonnage  alone  that  we  must 
look  to  settle  this  question.  Our  coasting  tonnage  is  quite  as 
important  in  our  view,  in  a  discussion  of  the  effects  of  our  pol 
icy  upon  our  navigation.  It  is  in  many  respects  a  more  valua 
ble  branch  of  our  marine  than  the  former.  It  is  more  within 
our  control ;  equally  good  as  a  nursery  for  our  seamen,  and  of 
the  most  essential  benefit  in  the  administration  of  our  manu 
facturing  system  at  home.  We  can  guard  and  protect  it 
against  outward  injury  and  foster  it,  when  our  foreign  channels 
of  commerce  are  cut  off. 

This  tonnage  has  increased  at  a  steady  pace,  even  when 
Mr.  C.  alleges  that  our  foreign  tonnage  has  been  declining  ; 
although  he  would  have  us  believe  "  that  they  uniformly  rise  and 
decline  together" — (page  20) — to  contradict  which  assertion 
we  have  only  to  refer  to  its  increase  even  up  to  the  period  of 
the  war.*  It  is  to  be  observed  in  reference  to  it,  that  this 
tonnage,  as  Mr.  Cambreleng's  table  No.  4  demonstrates,  has 
increased  since  the  restrictions  of  1824  both  in  a  greater  ratio 
and  amount  than  it  ever  did  before.  It  is  peculiarly  affected 
by  the  protective  system,  and  from  its  occupation  must  necessa 
rily  thrive  with  the  extension  of  our  manufactures. 

*  In  fact  the  enrollments  were  -more  numerous,  during  the  war, 
than  in  1807,  as  will  be  seen  by  reference  to  Seybert's  Statistics, 
page  317.  We  give  the  entries  of  those  periods : 

1807  .        .        .        i        ...        .        .    318,189  tons. 

1808  .        .        .....  .        .        387,684    " 

1809  .        .        .        .        .        .        .        .        .    371,500    " 

1810  .        .        ....        ...        .        371,114    " 

1811  ...        .        .,:..•       .        .    386,258    " 

1812  .......        .        .        .        .        443,180    " 

1813  .        .        .      ".        .        .        .        .        .    433,404    " 

1814  .        .        .     '    .        .        .        .        .        .        425,713    " 

These  entries  show  no  fixed  proportion  whatever  witli  the  regis 
tered  tonnage. 


POLITICAL    PAPERS. 

In  treating  upon  this  subject,  Mr.  C.  is  ludicrously  at  fault 
He  is  puzzled  at  every  turn  with  his  own  documents.  Dr. 
Syntax  in  search  of  the  picturesque,  had  not  more  calls  upon 
his  fancy  to  make  up  his  sketch,  than  the  laboring  Atlas  of 
the  free-trade  trade  cause,  in  this  his  emergency.  But  he  has 
a  faith  that  will  remove  mountains,  and  a  perseverance  that  is 
never  to  be  daunted. 

He  has  looked  at  the  thing  in  every  light ;  turned  the 
tables  upside  down ;  counted  the  figures  backwards,  and 
tried  the  question  through  all  the  categories.  "  The  tables 
are  all  lies,"  quoth  the  chairman.  "  The  conclusion  cannot 
be  got  out  collective — so  we  will  try  it  confuse  et  distributive" 
said  he. 

Although  the  returns  show  an  increase,  he  assures  us  that, 
"  unfortunately,  it  is  only  in  appearance" — (page  18).  We 
doubt  his  sincerity  in  that  "  unfortunately."  Right  glad  would 
he  be  if  this  obstinate  coasting  trade  had  never  increased  a 
ton  !  But  we  will  hear  his  account  of  the  matter.  "It  grows 
out  of  additions  to  our  territory,"  and  our  steamboats  on  the 
lakes,  the  Mississippi,  Missouri  and  Ohio ;"  and  "  out  of  our 
coasting  trade  with  Florida  and  Louisiana."  But  that  does 
not  reduce  it  enough  ;  so  he  gives  us  a  residuary  clause  to  cover 
the  balance, — "  and  a  portion  of  it  is  merely  nominal."  Is  it 
not  wonderful  that  our  coasting  trade  should  increase  with  our 
territory  ?  And  that  our  tonnage  should  be  enlarged  by  the  coast 
ing  trade  with  Florida  and  Louisiana  ?  We  are  surprised  that 
the  learned  chairman  did  not  also  aver,  that  it  had  unfairly  in 
creased,  with  our  population.  Indeed,  he  does  say  as  much  ; 
— "a  just  and  accurate  statement,  if  it  could  be  made  in  1828 
of  the  tonnage  in  the  same  commercial  circle  which  existed  in  1807, 
would  show  an  actual  decline  since  the  war !"  Possibly  enough. 
And  carry  the  calculation  a  little  further, — if  it  could  now  be  as 
certained  what  had  become  of  our  coasting  vessels  employed  in 
1807,  there  is  good  ground  to  think  that  they  are  all  rotten : — 
a  total  decline  !  It  is  upon  the  increase  of  our  commercial  cir 
cle,  and  our  population,  and  our  new  business,  with  the  muiti- 


REVIEW    OF    CAMBRELENG.  63 

tude  of  new  matters  which  make  up  the  political  aspect  of 
1828,  that  we  expected  to  find  an  increase  of  tonnage.  But 
what  part  of  it  is  merely  nominal?  Mr.  C.  has  attempted,  in  a 
note  to  his  table  No.  4,  to  give  us  some  explanation  of  this — 
but  to  us  it  is  utterly  unintelligible.  It  is  a  round  assertion 
that  the  tables  are  not  correct :  that  there  are  277,804  tons  of 
the  registered  shipping  of  1828  included  in  the  coasting  ton 
nage  ;  that  the  registered  tonnage  was  corrected  in  1818  and 
200,000  tons  were  struck  out  of  that  list ;  and  supposing  that 
the  error  in  the  coasting  tonnage  was  only  half  that  amount, 
then  it  follows  that  the  whole  amount  is  reduced  from  881,605 
down  to  503,605  ;  and  then  deduct  something  else ;  and  then 
suppose  another  supposition, — and  then — it  results,  in  the 
grand  conclusion,  that  we  have  actually  less  enrolled  and  li 
censed  tonnage  now  than  we  had  in  1807.  Admirable  reason 
ing  !  Here  let  arithmeticians  and  statesmen  come  to  study 
the  edifying  process  by  which  500,000  tons  of  substantial  ship 
ping  paying  its  yearly  stipend  to  the  Government,  may  be  re 
duced  to  a  fraction  below  nothing  ?  Here  let  Congress  learn 
the  efficacy  of  Dr.  Doubty's  philosophy,  and,  from  this  time 
forward,  let  no  man  say  "  it  is,  but  //  seems  to  be !" 

Before,  however,  we  bend  under  this  all-prostrating  blast  of 
suppositions,  we  beg  to  hold  some  further  discourse  with  the 
chairman.  He  affirms  that  from  1789  to  1807  our  coasting 
tonnage  increased  342,573  tons.  Upon  examining  his  table 
No.  4,  we  find  that  he  states  the  tonnage  of  1789  at  77,669 
(which  by  the  by,  is  obnoxious  to  the  same  remark  as  the  reg 
istered  tonnage  of  that  year ;  namely,  that  it  exhibits  not  more 
than  one  half  of  the  actual  tonnage,  as  the  return  for  the  next 
year, — 132,123  tons — will  show) — while  the  tonnage  of  1807 
is  set  down  by  him  at  360,834.  Now  the  difference  between 
these  is  283,165.  How  does  Mr.  C.  make  his  342,573  ?  He 
does  not  tell  us  the  process  by  which  this  is  effective,  but  he  is 
obviously  playing  off  some  arithmetical  juggle  upon  us  again, 
and,  what  is  very  remarkable,  the  same  tables  which  are  too 
good  for  the  era  of  restrictions,  and  which  exaggerate  the  state 


>  POLITICAL    PAPKK>. 

of  things  hideously,  when  they  war  against  his  theory,  are,  really, 
not  bold  enough  for  him  to  get  along  with  in  his  free-trade 
era.  Were  there  no  mistakes  in  the  tonnage  returns  previous 
to  1807  ?  no  registered  tonnage  ranked  in  that  list?  no  deduc 
tions  to  be  made  of  any  sort  ?  This  is  a  vexatious  inquiry,  and 
we  would  entreat  the  learned  chairman  to  edify  us. 

There  is  one  fact  that  we  think  ought  to  have  struck  even 
the  obstuse  prejudices  of  Mr.  C.  hard  enough  to  have  been  felt 
by  him,  in  making  up  his  calculations.  If  the  mixture  of  for 
eign  tonnage  with  the  coasting  was  a  matter  to  disturb  the 
computations  for  1828,  how  does  it  happen  that  this  tonnage 
in  1827  was  868,171,  and  in  1826,  798,815  tons,  and  why  has 
it  gone  on  regularly  increasing  every  year  ?  This  can  only  be 
accounted  for  by  the  supposition,  that  in  every  year  the  coast 
ing  has  its  due  proportion  of  registered  tonnage  mixed  with  it, 
and,  consequently,  that  circumstance  does  not  effect  the  ratio 
of  the  increase.  No  one  has  ever  supposed  that  our  coasting 
trade  was  carried  on  by  vessels  which  were  not  sometimes  em 
ployed  in  foreign  trade,  but,  undoubtedly,  the  coasting  trade  is 
as  vigorous  and  improving,  in  one  aspect,  as  in  the  other. 
This  circumstance  might  be  good  to  show  that  the  aggregate 
returns  of  our  coasting  and  foreign  tonnage  did  not  accurately 
show  the  number  of  tons  of  American  shipping,  but  it  can  have 
no  sort  of  bearing  on  the  question  of  the  relative  increase  of 
either.  When  we  come  to  speak  of  Mr.  Cambrel  eng's  views 
of  British  navigation  we  shall  show  of  how  little  moment  he 
deems  this  intermingling  of  coasting  and  foreign  tonnage,  where 
his  purpose  is  to  fabricate  an  argument  against  us. 

There  is  still  another  remark  to  be  made  upon  his  state 
rnent  in  reference  to  this  matter.  He  affects  to  undervalue 
the  treasury  returns  of  the  coasting  tonnage  at  this  time,  by 
telling  us  that  when  commerce  is  active,  as  it  was  in  1807, 
"  some  reliance  may  be  placed  on  the  tables  of  coasting  ton 
nage  ;  but  when  trade  is  dull  we  know  not  what  portion,  of  our 
vessels  enrolled  and  licensed,  is  actually  employed  !" — (p.  20). 
If  our  trade  were  dull  now,  how  does  he  account  for  the  rapid 


REVIEW    OF    CAMBRELENG.  65 

increase,  shown  by  his  tables,  in  this  tonnage  ?  This  is  the 
very  point  between  us.  Whether  the  tables  are  true  or  false, 
they  show  an  increase,  every  year,  of  vessels  paying  for  enrol 
ments,  and  a  greater  increase  than  ever  was  known  before. 
In  the  face  of  this  fact  will  he  assure  us  that  the  coasting  trade 
is  dull  ?  We  know  it  to  be  untrue,  and  so  does  every  intelli 
gent  merchant  in  the  country. 

But  we  have  another  reason  to  impeach  the  veracity  of  Mr. 
Cambreleng's  statistics.  He  has  informed  us,  as  we  have 
stated  above,  that  in  1818  the  permanent  tables  of  registered 
tonnage  VI&CQ  corrected,  when  an  error  of  200,000  tons  was  dis 
covered.  And  therefore,  he  concludes,  but  with  what  reason 
let  the  logicians  determine — that  in  1828  the  error  is  to  the 
same  amount.  And  because  the  error  is  the  same,  at  this  last 
period,  then  there  must  be,  at  least,  half  that  amount  of  error 
in  the  enrolled  tonnage  ;  and  therefore  again,  the  sum  of  enroll 
ed  tonnage  must  be  subject  to  a  deduction  of  100,000  tons ; 
— ergo,  the  coasting  trade  is  on  the  wane.  We  have  never  seen 
a  more  sorry  enthymeme  !  The  whole  sequence  of  the  syllo 
gism,  is  false. 

In  the  first  place,  he  has  given  us  no  proof  of  his  200,000 
tons.  If  Watterston  and  Van  Zandt's  tables,  commencing 
at  page  in,  give  us  the  corrected  list  of  registered  tonnage, 
then  the  amount  in  1818  was  reduced  from  755,101  tons  to 
605,088,  the  reduction  being  149,013  tons  :  and  if  that  list, 
continued  by  them  up  to  1826,  and  by  the  treasury  reports  to 
1 828,*  be,  as  we  have  no  reason  to  doubt,  the  corrected 
record  of  registry,  then  in  1828  the  true  amount  of  perma 
nent  registered  tonnage  differs  from  that  of  Mr.  Cambrel 
eng's  uncorrected  list  of  that  year  (824,781)  but  12,162 
tons:  and,  of  course,  he  is  to  apply  but  6,08 1  tons  to  the  coast 
ing  tonnage.  In  the  second  place,  we  deny  any  necessary 
connection  between  the  errors  in  the  registered  tonnage  and  in 
the  enrolled  and  licensed :  and  we  say  this,  because  the  errors 
of  the  latter  have  been  corrected  as  well  as  of  the  former,  and 

*  Vide  Ante,  p.  47,  where  we  have  given  this  list. 


CO  POLITICAL    PAPERS. 

will  show,  upon  the  same  authority  quoted  by  us  above,  that 
up  to  1828,  there  was  no  material  difference  between  the  un- 
corrected  list  of  enrolled  and  licensed  tonnage  and  the  correct 
ed  one.  In  1826,  according  to  Watterston  and  Van  Zandt,  it 
was  but  2,603  tons.* 

We  are  still,  however,  at  a  loss  to  understand  why  Mr.  C. 
should  resort  to  the  lists  of  registered  or  enrolled  tonnage  to 
exhibit  the  state  of  the  navigation,  when  he  had  a  much  more 
infallible  guide  before  him  :  unless  it  be  that  he  found  in  the 
obscurity  of  the  first  a  pretext  for  indulging  in  conjectures  that 
better  suited  the  purpose  of  his  argument  than  the  incontro 
vertible  facts  of  the  latter.  For,  whether  the  permanent  tables 
of  the  tonnage  be  true  or  false,  there  can  be  no  unceriainly  in 
the  yearly  returns  of  the  shipping  which  enters  and  departs 
from  the  United  States.  And,  as  these  represent  accurately 
the  number  of  voyages  made  in  each  year,  they  furnish  the  only 
sure  and  unquestionable  indices  of  the  state  of  our  trade  with 
every  quarter  of  the  world.  It  is  because  they  do  so,  that  we 
have  already  given  some  extracts  from  them,  and  we  rely  upon 
them,  in  preference  to  any  other  proofs  that  can  be  afforded. 
They  exhibit  the  shipping  that  pays  the  tonnage  duties  an-d 
licenses,  and,  consequently,  present  the  actual  employment  of 
our  commerce.  We  hold  it  therefore  a  disingenuous  thing  in 
Mr.  C.  to  give  us  what  he  acknowledges  to  be  an  uncertain 
guide  to  the  state  of  the  commerce  of  the  country,  when  he  had 
a  better  one  at  his  disposal.  It  is  cheating  us  by  false  tokens : 
giving  the  official  and  authoritative  sanction  of  a  grave  com 
mittee  of  law-givers  to  an  affirmation  that,  in  its  scope  and  pur 
pose,  is  absolutely  untrue.  But  Mr.  C.  is  bent  upon  destroy- 

*  The  corrected  list  of  tonnage  enrolled  and  licensed  is  thus  stated 
in  the  tables  referred  to : 

1818  618,480          1821  677,137          1824          697,580 

1819  647,134  1822  693,415  1825          699,262 

1820  660,065  1823  671,765  1826          762,153 
This  table  excludes  the  tonnage  employed  in  the  whale  fishery, 

and  from  the  year  1823,  it  excludes  the  steamboat  tonnage,  which, 
in  1826,  was  34,058  tons. 


REVIEW    OF    CAMBR1LLENG..  67 

ing  o.ur  navigation,  and  the  virtue  of  the  end  has  cast  its  proper 
hue  upon  the  means. 

Still,  there  is  but  little  gained  to  Mr.  Cambreleng's  argu 
ment,  if  his  statements  were  open  to  none  of  these  exceptions  : 
for  even  admitting  that  the  return  of  the  permanent  registered 
tonnage,  or  of  the  enrolled,  was  defective  to  the  extent  that 
he  has  alleged,  there  is  nothing  in  the  fact  to  impair  the  value 
of  the  comparison  of  our  present  tonnage,  with  the  tonnage 
of  twenty  years  ago,  as  there  is  no  reason  afforded  us  to  sup 
pose  that  the  same  accidental  disturbances  did  not  exist  then 
as  fully  as  at  present. 

Besides  our  list  of  entering  and  departing  tonnage,  which 
we  assert  to  be  the  best  evidence  of  trade,  there  is  another 
method  of  determining  the  increase,  equally  as  sure,  though 
not  as  minute ;  that  is,  by  an  estimate  of  the  bulk  of  our  ex 
ports.  If  the  qua?itities  of  products  exported  have  greatly 
increased  since  1818,  it  follows,  that  the  shipping  employed 
in  its  transportation  must  have  experienced  some  commen 
surate  increase.  An  examination  into  the  quantity  of  our 
exports,  and  especially  of  cotton,  will  show  that  this  induce 
ment  has  been  supplied,  to  a  very  notable  degree,  since  1818. 
Overstocked  markets  and  occasional  depressions  of  trade 
may  have-  produced  some  vibrations  in  the  scale,  but  the  per 
manent  and  manifold  increase  of  our  products,  obvious  to  any 
one  who  will  take  the  trouble  to  examine  the  numerous 
treasury  returns  belonging  to  this  concern,  leaves  no  room  to 
doubt  the  justice  of  our  position. 

We  proceed,  from  this  view  of  our  own  tonnage,  to  Mr. 
Cambreleng's  comparison  of  it  with  the  British.  It  is  as 
much  his  purpose  to  show  the  ruinous  effects  of  our  policy  by 
this  contrast,  as  by  the  comparison  he  has  made  of  our 
present  navigation  with  that  of  his  favorite  era  of  pretended 
free  trade.  This  has  furnished  a  rich  field  for  his  excursive 
genius.  Here  he  rambles,  at  pleasure,  through  his  Cimmerian 
wilds  of  uncertainty,  and  expatiates,  with  the  ardor  of  a  gifted 
spirit  of  romance,  unchecked  by  the  proximity  of  the  depart- 


CS  POLITICAL    PAPERS. 

ments,  and  your  scurvy  pestilent  documents.  Here  he  hopes 
to  indulge  in  the  luxuriance  of  fabricated  vouchers,  without 
the  fear  of  "  some  damned  good  natured  friend"  to  tell  him 
of  his  faults.  But  let  him  not  deceive  himself !  We  have 
him  in  leading  strings  still ;  and  we  shall  not  be  overhasty  to 
be  persuaded  to  let  go  our  hold. 

In  the  course  of  our  remarks  on  Mr.  Cambreleng's  esti 
mates  of  American  navigation,  we  have  had  occasion  to 
show,  that  where  there  were  two  lists  before  him,  namely, — 
the  permanent  registry  of  the  tonnage,  and  the  yearly  employ 
ment  of  it, — finding  that  the  first  presented  the  most  unfavor 
able  view  of  the  navigation,  he  chose  to  depend  upon  it, 
although  he  was  aware  of  intrinsic  defects  sufficient  to  bring 
it  into  disrepute — and  to  pass  the  other  by,  as  unworthy  to 
be  mentioned — seeing  that  it  told  a  tale  not  altogether  con 
sistent  with  his  theory.  The  very  same  thing  has  happened 
in  Mr.  Cambreleng's  view  of  British  navigation,  and,  strange 
as  it  may  appear,  the  worthy  chairman  has  made,  in  this  in 
stance,  the  very  opposite  choice.  In  Great  Britain  there  is  a 
list  of  tonnage  registered,  and  also,  annual  returns  of  its  employ- 
mentj  which  present  much  greater  diversity  in  the  results  than 
we  have  been  able  to  discover  in  the  American.  It  is  singular 
too,  that  our  discriminating  advocate  of  free  trade  should 
not  have  had,  in  the  case  of  the  British  tonnage,  the  same 
motive  to  renounce  the  registered  list  that  he  had  in  the  case 
of  our  own ;  for,  in  the  British  return  there  is  no  room  for  an 
error  similar  to  that  which  was  discovered  in  ours  in  1818.* 
The  British  registry  contains  not  only  the  number  of  tons, 
but  likewise  a  specification  of  the  vessels,  and  the  number 
of  seamen  employed  by  them  in  each  year — an  advantage 
that  does  not  belong  to  our  own  Treasury  reports.  The 
second  return,  of  the  British  shipping  is  intended  to  show  the 
number  of  entrances  and  departures,  and  consequently,  in 
this  return,  the  same  ship  may  contribute  to  swell  the  list  of 

*  The  British  shipping  was  registered  do  now  under  Mr.  II u skis- 
son's  lute  consolidation  of  the  navigation  laws,  in  the  Gtli  George  IV. 


REVIEW    OF    CAMBRELENG.  69 

tonnage  by  the  amount  of  her  frequent  entries.  Now  Mr. 
Cambreleng  has  chosen  the  second,  because  it  will  make  the 
tonnage  appear  to  the  greatest  advantage,  while  he  has  se 
lected  the  first  return  of  the  American,  for  the  converse  rea 
son.  We  have  shown,  also,  that  the  departing  tonnage,  in  this 
country,  is  invariably  the  largest,  inasmuch  as  it  embraces  all 
new  built  vessels  which  leave  our  ports  and  which  may  be 
sold  abroad.  Mr.  Cambreleng,  perhaps  aware  of  some  such 
advantage  on  the  part  of  the  British,  has  chosen  to  bring  into 
the  contrast  the  tonnage  cleared  out  from  British  ports  in  each 
year.  Thus  we  stand  to  be  compared  :  on  the  American  side, 
the  worst  aspect  in  which  our  tables  could  present  us  ;  on  the 
British  side  the  very  best.  Truly,  Mr.  C.  is  an  able  general, 
and  marshals  his  forces  with  a  considerate  eye  to  his  weak 
points  !  He  understands  the  art  of  putting  his  best  foot  fore 
most.  Having  thus  drawn  -up  his  battle,  he  falls  pell  mell 
upon  us  with  all  the  fury  of  Friar  John  of  the  Funnels  upon 
the  Cake  bakers  of  Lerne,  and  causes  us,  certainly,  a  sore 
dismay. 

Now,  we  do  not  say  that  our  adversary  has  not  truly  sta 
ted  the  amount  of  British  tonnage  clearing  outwards  to  all 
parts  of  the  world ;  but  we  know  that  the  British  statements  of 
tonnage  clearing  outwards  in  foreign  trade,  include  the  clear 
ances  to  Guernsey,  Jersey,  Man,  Alderney  and  to  all  their 
colonies  and  possessions  abroad,  since  all  these  are  ranked 
as  foreign  ports,  and  not  included  in  the  coasting  tonnage,* 
and  that  in  all  these  voyages,  most  of  which  are  much  shorter 
than  a  great  many  of  our  coasting  voyages,  the  entries  are  re 
peated  at  every  trip.  We  know  further,  that  in  the  year  end 
ing  January  5th,  1827,  when  Mr.  Cambreleng  states  the  clear 
ing  tonnage  to  have  been  2,676,263  tons,  the  actual  tonnage 
which  cleared  outwards  from  Great  Britain  and  Ireland  for  for 
eign  nations,  was  918,213  tons  ;  the  rest  is  made  up  by  the 

*  Ireland,  until  1823,  was  regarded  in  the  same  point  of  view — 
since  that  period,  the  intercourse  between  the  two  Kingdoms  has 
been  included  in  the  coasting  trade. 


70  POLITICAL    PAPERS. 

clearances  to  the  possessions  above  mentioned,  of  which  that 
to  Ireland  alone  was  760,000.* 

In  order  to  comprehend  better  the  nature  of  the  Brit 
ish  registered  tonnage  by  their  returns,  it  must  be  understood 
that  the  laws  of  Great  Britain  require  all  vessels  to  be  reg 
istered,  except  those  of  a  burden  less  than  fifteen  tons  em 
ployed  in  the  river  or  coast  navigation  of  the  Kingdom  or 
the  Colonies,  and  vessels  under  thirty  tons  employed  in  the 
Newfoundland  fishery  :f  which  circumstance,  at  once,  plainly 
indicates  the  impossibility  of  making  a  fair  comparison  of 
the  British  tonnage  with  ours  by  the  official  returns  of  the 
two  countries. 

By  this  system  of  registry,  the  British  list  of  registered 
ships  comprehends  what  is  equivalent  to  our  shipping  employ 
ed  both  in  the  foreign  and  the  coasting  trade,  and  if  it  could 
be  ascertained  what  was  the  actual  amount  of  American  regis 
tered  and  enrolled  tonnage,  this  would  be  the  proper  aggregate 
to  compare  with  the  British  register  list.  Such  a  comparison 
would  show,  that  at  this  period  we  are  at  no  great  distance  in 
the  rear  of  our  British  rivals, — perhaps  not  500,000  tons.  But 
our  concern,  at  present,  is  with  the  increase  or  decline  of  the 
navigation  of  Great  Britain. 

In  an  essay  upon  this  subject  from  BlackwooeFs  Magazine 
for  September  1828,  the  writer  remarks,  in  reply  to  some  such 
argument  as  Mr.  Cambreleng  has  set  up ;  "  It  is  needless  for 
us  to  say  that  the  tonnage  entries  are  of  no  moment,  if  they 
be  not  accompanied  by  a  corresponding  increase  in  the  num- 

*  We  are  indebted  for  these  details  to  a  valuable  communication 
published  in  the  Essex  Register,  March  8,  1830.  And  they  are  con 
firmed  by  a  reference  to  Blackwood's  Magazine,  1827,  in  a  review  of 
Mr.  Huskisson's  speeches  on  the  Shipping  Interest  of  Great  Britain. 

We  perceive  that  the  Essex  Register  is  still  going  on  with  the 
subject ;  and  we  are  quite  certain  that  Mr.  Cambreleng  is  in  very 
good  hands.  The  materials  are  ample,  to  show  that  the  report  pre 
sents  the  most  unwarrantable  misrepresentations,  both  of  British  and 
American  Shipping. 

f  Abbot  on  Shipping,  p.  28. 


REVIEW    OF    CAMBRELENG. 


71 


ber  of  ships  and  seamen  possessed  by  the  country.     According 
to  parliamentary  papers  this  country  possessed 
In  1826        .         .        .        24,625  ships  which  measured  2,635,644  tons. 
In  1827  23,199      "  "         "         2,460,500    " 


Decrease  the  last  year    1,426 
This  country  possessed     • 
Iul816        .        .        .        25,864  ships 
la  1827        .  23,199    " 


175,144 

2,783,940 
2,460,500 


Decrease  since  1816         2,665       .  .        .  323,440"* 

The  above  short  statement  is  quite  sufficient  to  show,  that 
with  all  the  attempts  of  Mr.Huskisson — and  following  him,  of 
Mr.  Cambreleng — to  propagate  a  belief  in  the  prosperity  of 
British  navigation,  it  has  been  declining,  while  ours  has  gone 
on  multiplying,  notwithstanding  that  "  simultaneous  change  of 
policy"  to  which  Mr.  C.  has  attributed  such  melancholy  effects. 
And  this  exposition  enables  us  to  attach  a  proper  value  to  the 
fulsome  and  unmerited  encomiums  which  our  worthy  chairman 
has  passed  upon  those  "  fundamental  changes"  that  "  have  re 
generated  the  British  empire,  given  a  wide  range  to  her  com 
merce,  and  an  active  impulse  to  her  power  and  resources." 

Mr.  C.  proceeds,  -very  gravely,  to  tell  us,  "  that  the  mere  in 
crease"  in  the  coasting  tonnage  of  Great  Britain,  "  for  five  years, 
is  more  than  equal  to  the  whole  enrolled  and  licensed  tonnage 
of  the  United  States,  whether  employed  on  our  coast,  on  the 
Mississippi,  Missouri,  Ohio,  on  our  nothern  lakes,  or  in  the 
fisheries" — (page  22).  We  say  in  answer  to  him,  that  we  have 

*  We  annex  a  list  of  the  amount  of  British  shipping,  as  given  in 
the  article  above  referred  to  in  filackwood's  Magazine,  1827,  estima 
ted  from  the  public  documents  of  that  nation. 


1316  No.  oi 
1817 

ships  25.864  meas 
25,246 

iring  2,781,940  to 
2,684,-986 

ns,  emplo 

ying  178,000  mei 
171,013 

1818 

25.507 

2,674,468 

173,609 

1819 

25,482 

2,666,396 

174,318 

1820 

25.374 

2.648,593 

174,514 

1821 

25,036 

2,560,303 

169,183 

1822 

24,642 

2,519,044 

166,3-33 

1823 

24,542 

2,506,760 

165,474 

1824 

24,776 

2.559,587 

168.637 

1825 

24,280 

2,553,682 

166!  183 

1826 

24.625 

2,635,644 

167,536 

1827 

23,199 

2,460,500 

'         151,515        ' 

f2  POLITICAL    PAPERS. 

grounds  to  believe  that  the  whole  coasting  tonnage  of  Great 
Britain — not  the  mere  increase  of  it — does  not  equal  the  coast 
ing  tonnage  of  the  United  States.  Our  coasting  tonnage  pays 
for  its  license  once  a  year,  and  is  reported  but  once  in  each 
year  to  the  Government.  The  British  tonnage  is  entered  at 
each  port  in  every  voyage,  and  consequently,  the  same  vessel, 
in  its  weekly  or  daily  voyages  backwards  and  forwards,  adds, 
at  each  entry,  its  full  amount  of  tonnage  to  the  return.  "  Many 
of  them  come  with  one  tide  and  return  with  the  next."  The 
comparison,  therefore,  between  the  two,  is  wholly  dispropor- 
tioned.  The  whole  British  coasting  tonnage  has  been  estima 
ted,  in  1827,  at  about  500,000  tons  ;*  while  ours,  according  to  our 
Congressional  reports,  was,  in  the  same  year,  873,437  tons — 
the  difference  being  greatly  in  our  favor.  Mr.  Cambreleng, 
with  a  credulity  that  sorts  well  with  the  complexion  of  his 
prejudices,  has  actually  set  down  the  coasting  tonnage  of  Great 
Britain  in  1827,  at  8,648,868  tons  ! — and  its  increase,  in  four 
years,  at  1,121,021,  tons  !  !  His  increase  of  the  British  foreign 
tonnage,  during  the  same  period,  is  stated  at  but  337,467  tons. 
We  are  surprised  that  Mr.  C.  should  not  have  been  admonished 
by  this  discrepancy  itself,  of  the  enormous  mistake  he  had  fall 
en  into.  The  coasting  tonnage  of  Great  Britain  increasing  in 
a  ratio  of  more  than  three  to  one  over  the  foreign  !  And  the 
disproportion  between  the  two  so  exorbitant  as  eight  millions 
to  two  ! — the  mere  increase  of  coasting  tonnage,  in  four  years, 
nearly  equal  to  one  half  of  the  foreign  commercial  marine  of 
the  most  gigantic  maritime  power  on  the  globe  !  All  this  ap 
parent  upon  the  statements  of  the  learned  chairman  himself ; 

*  "  If  5000  vessels  averaging  100  tons,  and  five  liands  make  eight 
voyages  each  annually,  in  the  coasting  trade,  they  will  give  8,000,000 
tons  of  inward  tonnage  in  the  general  return.  They  will  employ 
25,000  seamen." 

"  We  have  been  assured  by  those  who  are  conversant  with  the  sub 
ject,  that  the  whole  coasting  trade  does  not  employ  more  than  500,- 
000  tons  of  shipping ;  looking  at  the  actual  number  of  ships,  and  ex 
cluding  their  repeated  voyages." — Blackwood's  Magazine,  vol.  xxii.  n. 
140. 


REVIEW    OF    CAMBRELENG.  73 

and  yet  not  one  misgiving  of  his  own  conscience  to  induce  a 
stricter  examination.  In  our  own  country,  he  has  discovered  that 
the  coasting  and  foreign  tonnage  hold  a  close  relationship,  and 
that  one  waits  upon  the  other.  But  in  England,  it  seems,  things 
are  quite  the  reverse  ;  the  home  trade  there  is  worth  four  times 
as  much  to  the  shipping  interest  as  the  foreign.  What  a  com 
mentary  upon  the  value  of  the  protective  system  !  What  a. 
complete  overthrow  to  all  the  refined  speculations  about  the 
value  of  foreign  trade,  in  which  our  acute  system-monger  has 
indulged.  Mr.  C.  is  evidently  startled  at  his  eight  millions  of 
coasting  tonnage,  and  its  vast  increase  in  four  years.  It  is  al 
most  too  much  for  him.  He  falls  into  a  speculation  how  such 
a  thing  could  be — not  at  all  doubting  that  it  was — and,  there 
fore,  hints,  that  although  this  increase  is  principally  owing  "  to 
the  rapid  increase  of  her  navigation  in  the  coasting  trade,"  yet 
it  was  partly  owing  "  to  the  inclusion  of  the  Irish  tonnage  /" — 
Yes,  Mr.  Cambreleng ! — and  partly  to  a  slight  confusion  of  ideas, 
besides  !  The  fact  is,  Mr.  C.,  by  too  closely  following  Mr. 
Huskisson,  has  got  fairly  bewildered,  and  has  almost  strangled 
himself  with  his  subject.  We  have  no  disposition  to  press  the 
point  further  upon  him.  His  ignorance  is  manifest,  and  we  ap 
prehend  no  danger  whatever  from  permitting  him  and  his 
statements  henceforth  to  go  at  large. 

Being  aware  of  the  dissimilarity  between  the  British  and 
American  systems  of  recording  the  tonnage,  we  do  not  at 
tempt  to  institute  comparisons  founded  on  the  returns  of  the 
two  countries.  The  British  register  list  contains  both  their 
foreign  and  coasting  tonnage,  with  the  exceptions  that  we  have 
mentioned  before,  of  vessels  under  fifteen  tons,  etc.  Our  list 
of  enrolled  tonnage,  perhaps,  contains  some  portions  of  the 
registered,  and  consequently  the  aggregate  of  the  two  may  not 
fairly  represent  the  amount  of  tonnage.1*  The  British  returns 

*  Mr.  Cambreleng  tells  us  that  it   contains   277,804  tons.     We 

have  no  other  authority  for  this  fact,  and  we  are  therefore  obliged  to 

confess  our  doubts.     It  may  turn  out  to  be  like  the  200,000  tons  error 

in  the  registry.     Our  own  opinion  is,  though  we  do  not  speak  with 

4 


74:  POLITICAL    PAPERS. 

of  the  employment  of  their  shipping  in  the  coasting  trade 
contain  reduplications  of  the  same  tonnage  at  every  time  it 
enters  or  leaves  a  port  of  the  kingdom.  Our  returns  of  the 
enrolled  tonnage  give  no  such  repetitions  ;  and  consequently 
there  are  not  sufficient  points  of  resemblance  upon  which  we 
may  compare  them  with  each  other.  We  have,  however,  the 
number  of  British  ships  and  seamen  employed  in  their  marine, 
both  coasting  and  foreign,  and  the  exhibition  of  this  displays 
an  almost  uninterrupted  decline  of  British  navigation  since 
1816.  Our  own  returns  of  registered  shipping  and  of  enrolled, 
together  with  the  returns  of  the  employment  of  both,  show 
in  each  of  these  departments  a  visible  increase  since  1816,  and 
particularly  since  1824.  The  conclusions  these  documents 
afford  are  irresistible.  Mr.  C.  may  entertain  us  with  disquisi 
tions  upon  free  trade,  and  speculate  in  unauthorized  and  ex 
travagant  suppositions  ;  he  may  hunt  through  the  multitudinous 
varieties  of  figures,  in  the  reports,  to  select  unfavorable  pro 
portions  out  of  them,  where  by  chance  he  may  find,  in  some 
distant  eras,  a  few  disconnected  facts,  to  give  a  seeming  to 
his  theory  ;  but  he  can  never  persuade  us  to  resist  the  evidence 
we  have  furnished  him  of  the  prosperity  of  our  navigation, 
and  the  decline  of  our  rival's.  Trade  may  at  one  period  be 
dull,  and  at  another  active — this  fact  does  not  alter  the  gen- 
certainty,  that  what  is  returned  as  the  permanent  enrolled  tonnage 
of  each  year,  contains  no  part  of  this  registered  tonnage,  or,  if  any, 
a  very  small  one,  and,  that  in  some  of  tlie  numerous  aggregates, 
made  up  at  the  Treasury  Department,  an  accurate  list  of  the  actual 
tonnage  is  exhibited.  If  this  supposition  be  correct,  the  present 
tonnage  of  the  United  States  is  upwards  of  one  million  seven  hun 
dred  thousand  tons.  (We  have  not  seen  tlie  returns  of  1829  ;  but  we 
are  told  that  they  show  a  still  greater  increase  in  tlie  coasting  ton 
nage.)  At  all  events,  the  returns  of  the  whole  tonnage,  "  rough-hew 
them  how  you  may  " — make  what  allowance  Mr.  Cambreleng  chooses 
— show  constant  and  unequivocal  increase  in  the  shipping  of  the 
United  States,  which  is  the  main  point,  and  may  reassure  Mr.  C.,  if 
he  be  not  too  far  gone  in  despondency,  that  our  commercial  marine, 
and  our  "  naval  ascendancy"  are  both  in  very  good  keeping. 


REVIEW    OF    CAMBIIELEXG.  75 

eral  result.  We  do  not  mean  to  contend  that  our  navigation 
is  as  profitable  to  us,  as  it  has  been,  or  that  our  mercantile 
adventure  brings  in  its  former  harvest  to  the  country ;  but  we 
clo  contend,  that  we  have  bettered  it  by  our  system,  and  saved 
it  from  the  paralysis  to  which  this  ill-begotten  madness  of 
free  trade  might  have  exposed  us.  We  would  now  prefer  to 
return  to  our  discriminating  tonnage  duties,  rather  than  re 
lax  them  another  degree,  and  we  would  endeavor  to  bring 
about,  as  much  as  possible,  that  kind  of  free  trade,  of  which 
we  once  experienced  the  benefits — whose  characteristic  feature 
was  to  have  the  freedom  all  on  our  own  side,  leaving  to  our 
antagonists  none.  We  are  not  afraid  of  the  countervailing 
policy  of  our  rivals.  They  will  countervail  when  they  can, 
with  very  little  regard — whatever  their  admiration  may  be — 
to  our  generosity.  Great  Britain  has  steadily  met  us  in  this 
way  ever  since  we  became  a  nation  :  and  her  whole  object 
now,  in  opening  the  trade  of  Canada  and  reducing  her  duties 
— let  Mr.  Huskisson  and  Mr.  Grant,  and  their  ally  Mr.  Cam- 
breleng,  descant  upon  it  as  they  may — is  to  vex  and  embar 
rass  our  trade.  Their  designs  are  hostile,  and  should  be  met 
as  such.  The  threat  to  throw  in  upon  us,  from  Canada,  a  flood 
of  contraband  commerce,  is  an  insolent  bravado,  which  the 
spirit  of  our  nation  should  meet  as  it  deserves.  If  its  design 
be  to  force  us  into  a  system  of  measures  necessary  to  them, 
and  injurious  to  our  interests,  we  should  treat  it  as  a  defiance, 
and  let  Great  Britain  know,  that,  powerful  as  she  may  esteem 
herself,  and  arrogant  as  she  is,  she  is,  at  least,  as  vulnerable 
as  ourselves.  If  we  mistake  not,  she  has  already  found  the 
wide  frontier  of  Canada  as  troublesome  to  her  as  it  can  pos 
sibly  be  to  us.  We  do  not  speak  without  warrant  when  we 
say  that,  at  this  very  moment,  the  American  manufactures 
travel  as  smoothly  across  that  frontier  as  the  British,  and  if 
Mr.  Cambreleng  desires  evidence  of  the  fact  he  may  find  it 
among  his  own  constituents.  The  opening  of  the  British 
Northern  Colonies  is  the  least  of  all  possible  concessions  to 
ihe  spirit  of  free  trade  ;  it  is  like  other  gulls  that  have  de- 


<0  POLITICAL    PAPERS. 

ceived  our  sapient  merchant  statesmen  :  it  may  furnish  a 
text  for  his  preaching,  but  it  will  bring  upon  him  the  laughter 
and  ridicule  of  those  who  have  caught  him  in  so  feeble  a 
snare.  When  we  broke  up  the  trade  of  British  vessels  from 
the  West  Indies,  this  same  rival  of  ours  made  such  another 
concession  to  the  principle,  when  she  opened  the  island  of  Ber 
muda.  Mr.  Cambreleng  would  call  this,  perhaps,  a  step  in 
the  advance  of  liberal  legislation.  It  was  a  countervailing 
measure  of  hostile  aspect.  It  did  for  her  what  it  was  intended 
to  do — gave  her  the  carrying  of  American  products  destined 
for  the  West  India  market.  Its  object  was  protection,  not 
free  trade — to  expand  her  own  trade  by  crippling  that  of  her 
rival.  In  short,  to  make  the  trade  free — to  herself,  but  to 
nobody  else.*  We  have  no  reason  to  expect  any  other  measure 
of  liberality  from  foreign  powers.  They  are  all  interested  in 
procuring  as  much  freedom  of  trade  as  it  is  possible  to  get 
without  reciprocating  it — and  our  interest  is  very  much  like 
theirs. 

The  eighth  and  tenth  propositions  imputed  to  Mr.  Cam 
breleng,  we  leave  to  stand  upon  their  own  merits.  They  are 
mere  assertions  inconsistent  with  all  the  facts  we  have  ex 
hibited. 

We  have  thus  noticed,  more  minutely  than  we  at  first 
intended,  the  principal  heresies  in  doctrine,  and  the  gross 
misstatements  of  facts,  contained  in  the  report  Mr.  Cam 
breleng  has  copied,  almost  without  the  intermixture  of  an 

*  We  have  an  amusing  exposition  of  this  free-trade  principle,  in 
one  of  the  resolutions  of  the  free-trade  Chamber  of  Commerce  in 
Baltimore,  published  for  the  edification  of  Congress,  in  March,  1822. 
"  Resolved,  As  the  opinion  of  this  Chamber,  that  commerce  flourishes 
most  where  it  is  most  free  ;  that  the  importance  and  value  of  the 
American  Commerce  will  be  promoted  by  allowing  our  seaports  to 
be  made  the  depot  of  all  foreign  productions,  subject,  nevertheless, 
to  such  duties  as  the  wisdom  of  Congress  may  prescribe  ;  and,  Pro 
vided,  That  no  drawback  of  duties  is  allowed  on  exportation  by  any 
foreign  vessel."  Well  done,  gentlemen  !  a  fine  crank  free  trade — but 
somewhat  lop-sided. 


KEVIEW    OF    CAMBRELENG.  77 

original  idea,  his  notions,  as  well  as  the  facts  he  has  brought 
to  illustrate  them,  from  Mr.  Huskisson's  several  speeches  in 
Parliament.  Mr.  Hnskisson  has  not  escaped  censure,  both  in 
Parliament  and  out  of  it,  for  some  disingenuous  collocation 
of  facts,  and  for  a  studied  effort  to  conceal  unfavorable  con 
clusions.  We  have  seen  how  far  his  imitator  and  disciple  in 
this  country  has  been  true  to  the  school  of  his  master ;  but 
what  in  Mr.  Huskisson,  might  be  regarded  as  perhaps  a  ve 
nial  duplicity,  becomes  a  reprehensible  extravagance  in  Mr. 
Cambreleng,  because  its  tendency,  if  it  have  any  power,  is  to 
expose  us  to  all  the  machinations  of  our  rivals.  If  British 
ministers  could  desire  to  influence  American  counsels,  for 
their  own  advantage,  their  purpose  could  not  be  better  accom 
plished,  than  by  the  wrong-headed  zeal  of  our  Chairman  of 
the  Committee  of  Commerce.  They  fear  the  effect  of  the 
American  tariff,  and  are  full  as  importunate  in  persuading  us 
to  forego  this  system  as  Mr.  Cambreleng.  Their  urgency  in 
the  enterprise  betrays  their  interest — and  that  alone  is  a  suffi 
cient  reason  to  distrust  them.  There  have  been  some  reduc 
tions  of  duties  in  England,  that,  perhaps,  were  salutary,  but  we 
have  shown  the  grounds  upon  which  they  have  been  allowed. 
The  British  restrictions,  in  the  mildest  shape  and  most  re 
duced  forms,  are  actually  higher  protections  to  industry  than 
our  heaviest  duties.  If  what  in  Great  Britain  is  called  the 
free-trade  system  had  its  full  sway,  still  to  be  on  a  footing 
with  that  nation,  and  enjoy  the  benefit  of  the  same  policy 
here,  it  would  be  necessary  for  us  rather  to  rise  than  fall  in 
our  restrictions  ;  so  different  is  the  posture  of  the  two  powers. 
Our  country  has  attained  to  a  maturity  that  gives  her  a  com 
mand  almost  over  the  whole  globe  ;  the  other  is  yet,  compara 
tively,  in  its  infancy,  and  Mr.  Cambreleng  would  persuade  us 
into  an  equal  competition  !  It  is  like  a  boxer  from  the  train 
ing  school  of  Barclay,  inviting  an  unpractised  hand  into  the 
ring,  on  equal  terms.  As  it  is  our  destiny  to  be  obliged  to 
contend  with  this  adversary,  we  claim  the  privilege  of  choosing 
the  weapons.  The  American  rifle  is  a  very  sure  shot,  and  we 


78  POLITICAL  PAPERS. 

choose  to  fight  with  it :  our  antagonist  is  likely  to  be  discon 
certed  by  the  choice. 

There  is  one  portion  of  Mr.  Cambreleng's  report  which  we 
do  not  find  so  much  reason  to  quarrel  with.  It  is  the  discus 
sion  that  he  has  introduced  upon  the  impolicy  of  taxing  the 
raw  material  used  in  our  manufactures.  Upon  this  point,  the 
resemblance  between  our  interest  and  that  of  Great  Britain  is 
sufficiently  close  to  render  all  that  Mr.  Huskisson  has  said, 
and  all  that  Mr.  Cambreleng  has  repeated  in  reference  to  it, 
fully  entitled  to  our  consideration.  We  think  Mr.  C.  un 
doubtedly  right  in  his  position,  that  a  tax  upon  the  raw  mate 
rial  operates  as  a  bounty  in  favor  of  the  foreign  manufacturer, 
and  if  we  could  believe  that  Mr.  C.  advocated  the  repeal  of 
these  duties,  with  a  view  to  the  protection  of  our  manufactures, 
we  should  hold  his  zeal  in  more  respect ;  but  regarding  it  only 
as  a  concomitant  of  his  unqualified  repeal  of  all  protecting  re 
strictions,  we  cannot  but  condemn  his  principle,  along  with  his 
motives.  We  think  it  rather  hard,  that  the  protective  system 
is  to  be  prostrated  through  this  defect — as  Mr.  Cambreleng 
well  knows,  that  the  advocates  of  the  manufacturing  interests 
of  the  United  States  clearly  pointed  out,  in  advance,  the  very 
evils  which  form  the  ground  work  of  his  present  assault.  They 
foresaw  the  injury  that  was  about  to  be  done  to  the  interests 
they  sought  to  protect :  but  if  we  mistake  not,  Mr.  Cambreleng 
himself,  and  others  of  his  way  of  thinking,  voted  for  these  du 
ties,  and  enlisted  forces  to  sustain  them,  with  no  other  purpose 
than  to  render  the  law  odious  to  the  people  and  injurious  to 
the  manufacturers.  These  provisions  were  forced,  therefore, 
upon  the  friends  of  our  manufacturers,  who  had  the  alternative 
presented  them  of  no  protection  at  all,  or  protection  encum 
bered  with  all  the  trammels  of  these  premeditated  mischiefs. 
It  is  therefore,  we  think,  ungracious  in  Mr.  C.  to  lay  these  im 
perfections  at  the  door  of  the  protective  system,  and  much  more 
so  to  use  them — with  so  exulting  a  tone  of  triumph, — as  the 
legitimate  issue  of  a  system  of  policy  that  not  only  disclaims, 


REVIEW    OF    CAMBRELEXG.  79 

but  absolutely  holds  them  in  a  common  abhorrence  with  its 
opponents. 

Nothing  has  struck  us  more,  in  the  course  of  our  review  of 
the  Report,  than  the  almost  slavish  fidelity  with  which  it  has 
copied  its  opinions  and  facts  from  Mr.  Huskisson's  speeches, 
even  down  to  the  ridiculous  assertion  that  the  free-trade  doc 
trine  numbered  among  its  supporters  the  name  of  Mr.  Pitt, 
whose  whole  system  of  administration  was  notoriously  one  of 
restrictions  and  protections  upon  every  branch  of  industry. 
But  it  does  not  often  happen  that  the  repetition,  by  the  disci 
ple,  of  the  lecture  of  his  master,  should,  of  itself,  import  an  im 
peachment  of  their  wisdom.  This,  however,  is  the  fact,  in  the 
present  instance.  The  adoption  of  Mr.  Huskisson's  views  by 
Mr.  Cambreleng,  is  an  emphatic  condemnation  of  their  propri 
ety  in  English  policy.  Mr.  Huskisson  recommends  the  meas 
ure  of  entering  into  reciprocity  treaties  with  foreign  nations, 
upon  the  ground  that  they  will  be  favorable  to  the  increase  of 
the  proportion  of  British  navigation  employed  in  the  trade,  and 
illustrates  his  position  by  showing,  what  Mr.  Cambreleng  has 
repeated  after  him,  that  the  quantity  of  British  tonnage  em 
ployed  in  the  American  trade  has  increased  since  the  Conven 
tion  of  London.*  Mr.  Cambreleng,  who  seems  not  to  be  aware 
that  he  is  on  this  side  of  the  Atlantic,  recommends  the  same 
measure  in  order  to  prevent  this  increase.  Either  he  or  his  or 
acle  must  be  mistaken.  We  leave  them  to  settle  that  point  be 
tween  them,  and,  for  ourselves,  are  content  to  recommend  a 

*  There  is  some  divergence  of  opinion  between  Mr.  Huskisson  and 
the  British  writers  upon  the  effect  of  the  reciprocity  treaties.  They 
affirm  and  show  by  parliamentary  returns,  in  opposition  to  Mr.  H., 
that  the  shipping-  interest  of  Great  Britain  has  suffered  very  mate 
rially  by  these  treaties ;  and  that  the  amount  of  British  shipping  em 
ployed  in  the  trade  of  foreign  countries,  on  the  whole,  has  diminished. 
In  our  trade,  we  do  not  deny  its  increase  ;  Mr.  H.  attributes  this  to  the 
Convention  of  London.  If  this  be  true,  it  is  a  strong  argument  in  fa 
vor  of  our  return  to  discriminating  duties  again.  We  are  altogether 
certain  that  it  has  not  resulted  from  the  protective  system  of  this 
country. 


80  POLITICAL    PAPERS. 

reciprocal  treaty  with  all  those  nations  whose  navigation  is  not 
as  vigorous  as  our  own,  and  to  refuse  such  alliances  with  pow 
ers  that  are  able  to  navigate  on  cheaper  or  more  advantageous 
terms  than  we  do  ourselves ;  in  other  words,  as  we  have  be 
fore  declared,  to  give  as  much  encouragement  to  our  own 
navigation  as  we  can,  and  as  little  as  possible  to  that  of  our  ri 
vals.  Every  privilege  which  we  can  acquire  for  our  shipping 
abroad,  is,  in  its  effect,  protection  and  encouragement,  and  there 
fore  enters  into  our  system.  Indeed,  we  are  not  inclined  to 
dispute  with  Mr.  Cambreleng,  that  it  would  be  to  our  advan 
tage  to  extend  this  system  to  all  the  world,  as  we  believe  that  we 
can  build  and  navigate  at  less  expense  than  any  of  our  com 
mercial  rivals,  and,  consequently,  that  we  should  be  able  to 
wrest  from  them  the  carriage  of  their  own  merchandise.  We 
are  even  willing  to  reciprocate  with  Mr.  Huskisson,  if  he  will 
open  the  ports  of  Great  Britain  completely  to  our  rivalry — not 
confining  the  free  trade  to  articles  the  growth  or  manufacture 
of  either  country.  We  opine  that  in  one  year  we  should  give 
the  free-trade  philosophers  of  Great  Britain  a  commentary  upon 
their  text  that  they  might  study  to  advantage  for  the  rest  of 
their  lives.  This  perfection  of  the  theory,  however,  does  not 
enter  into  the  views  of  the  British  statesmen.  They  are  not 
willing  to  go  further  than  to  allow  each  country  to  carry  its  own 
products — thus  defining  the  high-water  mark  to  which  the  flood 
of  free  trade  is  permitted  to  rise.  We  would  suggest  it  to  the 
consideration  of  the  philosophers,  whether  this  also  be  not  an 
unwarrantable  interference  with  the  laws  of  nature. 

We  have  some  complaints  to  make  against  the  opponents 
of  the  tariff  system  in  general.  We  have  to  charge  them  with 
a  want  of  candid  and  fair  argument  of  the  question.  They 
have  never  been  content  to  rest  their  principles  upon  the  proof 
of  facts,  but,  on  the  contrary,  have  exerted  all  their  ingenuity 
to  escape  the  conviction  which  daily  experience  is  constantly 
affording.  The  report  is  almost  the  only  document  that  has 
been  published  in  the  United  States,  that  professes  to  deal  with 
the  subject  as  one  to  be  adjudged  by  the  present  or  past  histo- 


REVIEW    OF    CAMBKELENG.  81 

ry  of  the  country.  The  mode  of  assault  heretofore  practised, 
from  which  even  the  report  is  not  altogether  free,  has  consisted 
rather  in  awakening  the  prejudices  and  alarming  the  fears  of 
particular  interests,  than  of  canvassing  principles  and  discuss 
ing  the  value  of  passing  experiments.  The  planters  of  the 
South  have  been  wrought  up  into  a  state  of  feeling  amounting 
to  terror,  lest  Great  Britain,  in  some  vindictive  moment,  should 
deny  herself  the  use  of  American  cotton  in  her  manufacture. 
A  vain  fear  !  Our  restrictions  have  already  been  in  operation 
for  twelve  years,  and  our  exports  to  Great  Britain  have  been 
continually  increasing.  If  that  nation  could  procure  cotton  on 
better  terms  elsewhere,  or  cultivate  it  in  her  own  colonies,  she 
has  had  every  motive  to  do  so.  During  our  war  she  was 
obliged  to  resort  to  Brazil,  to  Eygpt,  and  to  the  East  Indies 
for  her  supply.  Her  demand  at  that  period  was  entirely  suffi 
cient  to  give  a  permanent  impulse  to  this  cultivation,  if  these 
countries  had  been  able  to  gratify  her  wants.  With  the  peace, 
however,  she  came  back  to  us,  and  her  continuance  in  our  mar 
ket  is  nothing  less  than  a  vital  concern  with  her — stimulated 
by  no  sense  of  friendship,  nor  sympathy  of  kindred,  but  by  that 
paramount  and  omnipotent  instinct,  of  interest  and  necessity, 
which  must  endure  as  long  as  the  South  can  furnish  the  pro 
duct  on  cheaper  terms  than  the  rest  of  the  world — and  no 
longer. 

The  same  species  of  argument  has  been  directed  to  all  that 
class  of  artisans  employed  in  the  several  branches  of  ship  build 
ing.  They  have  been  threatened  with  the  loss  of  their  daily 
bread.  We  trust  that  we  have  sufficiently  shown  how  futile  is 
this  threat.  Our  ship  building  daily  increases,  not  only  for  our 
own  service,  but  for  the  use  of  other  nations.  The  tariff,  so  far 
from  injuring  this  interest,  has  had  a  visible  effect  upon  its  pros 
perity.  Our  returns,  as  we  have  most  conclusively  proved,  show 
a  greater  ratio  of  increase  in  American  built  ships  since  1824, 
than  before  that  period. 

The  same  alarmists  have  attempted  to  frighten  the  farming 
interests,  by  assuring  them  of  a  certain  decline  in  their  agri- 
4* 


82  POLITIC  AT.    PAPERS. 

cultural  products.  Our  landed  proprietors  are  not  so  simple 
as  to  be  deceived  by  this  outcry.  They  know,  from  unhappy 
experience,  how  completely  the  foreign  demand  for  the  produce 
of  the  soil  has  been  closed  against  them,  and  they  can  calcu 
late  the  benefit,  better  than  we  can  do  it  for  them,  of  raising 
up  a  market  for  their  commodities  at  home.  It  is  a  plain  prop 
osition,  level  to  every  man's  understanding,  that  the  manufac 
turer  of  the  fabrics  to  be  used  in  the  country  had  better  be  fed 
by  American  productions,  than  by  the  growth  of  any  other  land  : 
and  the  withdrawal  of  a  large  mass  of  our  population  from  ag 
riculture,  to  other  employments,  must  operate  favorably  for 
those  who  are  still  left  in  possession  of  the  soil. 

Loud  and  melancholy  predictions  have  been  made  of  the 
failure  of  the  revenue  and  the  necessity  of  a  resort  to  direct 
taxation.  The  treasury,  however,  thrives  amid  all  these  augu 
ries,  and  the  customs  continue  ample  and  abundant,  fluctua 
ting,  it  is  true,  from  year  to  year,  but  still  holding  their  ground 
without  the  prospect  of  a  deficiency.  Indeed,  it  has  already 
become  a  matter  of  speculation  what  we  shall  do  with  our  sur 
plus  funds  after  we  have  paid  off  the  debt.  We  can  hardly 
charge  our  opponents  with  the  folly  of  believing  that  there  is, 
yet,  the  remotest  possibility  of  a  resort  to  internal  taxation  : 
that  argument  seems  to  have  died  at  the  moment  of  its  birth. 

Last  of  all,  with  a  genuine  demagogue  spirit,  they  have 
appealed  to  the  passions  and  prejudices  of  the  ignorant,  by 
disseminating  an  opinion  that  the  protective  system  is  a  con 
trivance  to  tax  the  poor  man's  pittance  with  no  better  purpose 
than  to  increase  the  store  of  the  rich.  This  argument  is  more 
than  once  repeated  in  the  report.  We  have  no  design  to  make 
a  formal  refutation  of  it,  but  we  hold  it  altogether  unworthy  of 
the  station  and  pretensions  of  the  chairman  of  the  Committee 
of  Commerce.  It  is  a  wretched  theme  of  the  hustings,  and 
never  urged  but  in  the  presence  of  the  multitude.  We  do 
not  know  a  fairer  mode  of  taxation — when  taxation  is  neces 
sary — than  that  which  reaches  the  commodities  in  most  com 
mon  use :  it  is  equable  and  diffusive,  and  operates  in  fairer 


REVIEW    OF    CAMBRELENG.  83 

proportion  upon  the  wealthy  than  any  other ;  they  have  their 
dependants,  correspondent  to  their  affluence,  and  pay  the  tax 
in  the  same  ratio.  The  laborer  avoids  its  pressure  by  throwing 
it  into  his  wages — the  employer  takes  it  without  the  possibility 
of  shifting  it  upon  another. 

Such  have  generally  been  the  topics  of  alarm  insisted  upon 
by  the  opponents  of  the  protective  system  ;  but  they  have 
never  before  attempted,  that  we  are  aware  of,  to  show  that 
their  fears  have  been  justified  by  the  results.  That  enterprise 
has  been  left  to  the  Committee  of  Commerce.  With  what 
success  the  effort  has  been  attended,  we  leave  it  to  our  readers 
to  determine.  It  has  been  our  aim  to  show  that  the  public 
mind  has  been  grossly  abused,  and  we  have  endeavored  to  ex 
pose  the  misrepresentations  by  which  the  advocates  of  free 
trade  have  attempted  to  forestall  the  judgment  of  the  nation, 
and  turn  it  from  its  wisest  and  best  designs.  Time,  which  ac 
complishes  all  things  that  are  to  be  accomplished,  has  already 
set  its  seal  upon  this  pernicious  abuse,  and  furnished  the  most 
abundant  proofs  of  the  incapacity  and — if  we  did  not  hold  the 
individuals  in  too  much  respect,  we  should  say — imbecility  of 
that  rash  party  whose  counsels  have  so  long  sustained  the  un 
happy  warfare  of  opinion  that  still  agitates  the  country. 

This  domestic  dissension  has  enlivened  the  hopes  of  our 
enemies,  who  are  not  only  anxiously  watching  the  strife,  but 
participating  in  it  by  the  loud  and  frequent  plaudits  with  which 
they  cheer  up  the  discomfited  champions  of  free  trade  both  in 
Congress  and  out  of  it.  The  busy  genius  of  hostile  rivals  is 
abroad,  and  all  the  appliances  that  artful  rhetoric  and  counter 
acting  measures  can  afford,  have  been  lavished  to  sustain  the 
banner  of  opposition  against  our  established,  and,  we  may  say, 
successful  policy. 

We  have  never  pretended  to  assert  that  the  prosperity  or 
happiness  of  the  country  was  concerned  in  the  attempt  to 
build  up  manufactures  uncongenial  with  our  habits,  or  inappli 
cable  to  our  local  resources.*     Our  protective  system  has  been 
*  The  Edinburg  Review,  of  October  last,  contains  an  essay  on  the 


84  POLITICAL    PAPERS. 

exclusively  applied  to  the  encouragement  of  those  branches  of 
industry  in  which  we  are  able  to  excel — to  which  the  mineral, 
animal  and  vegetable  wealth  of  our  soil  has  invited  us,  and  in 
reference  to  which,  therefore,  we  enter  upon  the  career  with  a 
certainty  before  us,  that  the  few  years  of  infant  helplessness 
being  overcome,  we  shall  walk  into  the  field  of  competition 
with  all  advantages.  The  report  seems  never  to  have  regard 
ed  the  question  in  this  point  of  view  :  it  has  taken  it  for  grant 
ed  that  the  struggle  is  to  be  perpetual  without  an  accession  of 


French  commercial  system,  the  object  of  which  is  to  show,  that  the 
restrictive  policy  has  been  hurtful  to  France,  in  some  of  the  branches 
of  industry  to  which  it  has  been  applied.  It  seems  that  in  that  King 
dom  they  have  attempted  to  manufacture  iron,  with  wood  for  their 
fuel.  Their  coal  is  at  a  distance,  the  roads  proverbially  the  worst  in 
Europe,  and  wood  scarce  and  dear.  We  are  not  surprised  to  learn 
that,  under  such  circumstances,  France  cannot  rival  Great  Britain  in 
this  manufacture.  We  think  it  folly  in  her  to  attempt  it  until  she 
cfin  provide  a  cheaper  fuel.  It  is,  perhaps,  an  equally  unwise  attempt 
in  France,  to  restrict  her  supply  of  sugar  to  the  islands  of  Martinique, 
Guadaloupe,  and  the  Isles  de  Bourbon,  since  they  are  by  no  means 
large  enough  to  supply  her  wants  in  this  article.  These  are  evident 
ly  examples  of  the  impolicy  of  forcing  national  industry  into  channels 
where,  from  fixed  and  natural  causes,  they  can  never  excel.  It  is 
unfair  to  judge  the  protective  system  by  such  instances.  Its  advo 
cates  here  do  not  predicate  its  success,  under  such  circumstances. 
They  ask  for  the  national  protection  for  that  industry  which  we  pos 
sess  every  means  of  bringing  to  perfection. 

But  there  is  one  thing  in  the  review  above  cited,  worth  attending 
to,  and  to  which  we  especially  invite  the  notice  of  Mr.  Cambreleng. 
The  Reviewer  asserts  that  the  protected  commodities  in  France,  with 
which  he  finds  so  much  fault,  have  all  risen  enormously  in  cost  to  the 
people,  and  this  is  the  foundation  of  his  reproof  upon  the  system. 
How  does  it  happen  that  the  reduction  of  prices,  from  the  war  rates 
to  the  ordinary  prices  of  peace  (see  Mr.  C.'s  report,  page  5),  has  not 
been  felt  in  France  ?  That  these  restricted  commodities  have  risen 
there,  while  ours  have  fallen  ? — Simply,  because  France  has  unwise 
ly  attempted  to  force  an  industry  to  which  her  resources  were  not 
adapted  ;  and  the  United  States  have  applied  their  means  to  the  en~ 
courayement  of  an  industry  to  which  they  were  adapted.  There  is  tho 
difference,  and  there  the  mystery  of  our  low  prices. 


REVIEW    OF    CAMBRELENG.  85 

strength  or  skill ;  that  practice  is  to  produce  no  perfection, 
and  science  no  improvement.  Our  success,  thus  far,  has  most 
signally  refuted  this  idea.  We  have  not  yet  entered  upon  any 
important  manufacture  without,  in  a  few  years,  bringing  down 
the  price,  and  even  adding  some  valuable  items  to  our  exports. 
AVith  such  evidences  before  us,  we  are  astonished  at  the  divis 
ion  of  opinion  in  the  country,  as  to  the  policy  of  extending  a 
liberal  measure  of  encouragement  and  protection  to  these  use 
ful  endeavors.  We  have  not  been  able  to  discover  that  any 
department  of  industry  has  suffered  by  the  adoption  of  the 
system,  while  it  is  evident  that  the  nation  has  received  many 
present  benefits,  and  laid  up  a  sure  and  splendid  reversion  of 
wealth  for  ages  to  come.  Her  duty  is  to  cherish  these  at 
tempts  by  a  careful  and  considerate  protection ;  "  to  lift  up 
them  trtst  fall,* and  strengthen  such  as  do  stand."  And  we  do 
not  doubt  the  speedy  approach  of  that  day  when  the  over- 
wntlming  opinion  of  the  country  at  large  shall  applaud  and 
sustain  the  protective  policy  that  has  now  gained  its  foothold 
In  the  public  counsels. 

Tt  is  GIT  own  consolation  to  see  the  strong  safeguard  of  in- 
tei est  rapidly  throwing  its  arm  over  every  quarter  of  the  coun 
try.  Manufactures  are  extending  into  every  State ;  and  the 
sensibilities  of  our  southern  friends  begin  to  revive  from  the 
slioek  occasioned  by  the  doleful  prophecies  uttered  against 
their  prosperity.  To  their  astonishment  they  still  find  a  mar- 
kei  abroad  for  their  cotton,  and  a  rich  one  rapidly  growing  up 
about  their'  at  home  :  they  are  not  yet  stripped  of  the  necessa 
ries  of  life,  and  even  get  the  essential  articles  of  clothing  at  a 
veductiou  of  price  that  is  quite  unaccountable.  Our  popula- 
;:^n  are  summoned  to  new  fields  of  industry  and  to  new  sources 
of  pio:":-  :  and  while  peace  and  plenty  smile  upon  us  in  our  pur- 
bu«ts.  ive  si:*  every  day  contributing  to  render  the  nation  more 
muepc:-deut  of  foreign  supplies  of  whatever  is  essential  to  our 
comfort  and  power.  We  feel  assured  that  under  the  influence 
of  this  jsyptem  our  national  difficulties — come  when  they  may, 
to  embroil  us  with  other  States — will  find  us  a  self-possessed, 


POLITICAL    PAPF 

vigorous  and  nmtklul  people,  ready  to  make  the  best  of  the 
the  case  and  feariess  of  the  ereiit.  Our  armies  will  march  with 
tfce  muniments  of  war  »K«»«l»*iify  furnished  from  our  own  la 
bor,  our  navy  wffl  float  upon  the  ocean  dressed  in  the  can- 
Tass  of  the  oumaiij,  and  oar  citizens  will  await  the  issue  of  the 
strife  surrounded  with  the  wealth  of  their  fields,  their  mines 
2  :  v  :  '':. ; : ;  : .  -.  - 


DOMESTIC   INDUSTRY.  87 


ADDRESS 

OF  THE  FRIENDS  OF  DOMESTIC  INDUSTRY,  ASSEMBLED  IN 
CONVENTION,  AT  NEW  YORK,  OCTOBER  26,  1831,  TO 
THE  PEOPLE  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.  [DRAFTED  BY 
A  COMMITTEE  OF  WHICH  MR.  KENNEDY  OF  BALTI 
MORE  AND  MR.  DULTON  OF  MASSACHUSETTS  WERE 
MEMBERS.] 

FELLOW-CITIZENS  :— A  numerous  delegation  from  sev 
eral  States  in  the  Union  have  convened  in  the  city  of 
New  York  representing  great  national  interests  which  they  are 
anxious,  by  the  most  efficient  but  peaceable  means,  to  defend 
and  support  In  addressing  themselves  to  the  people  of  the 
United  States,  they  invoke  their  candid  attention  to  several 
topics  of  great  national  importance,  without  assuming  any  au 
thority  ultimately  to  decide  them  ;  conscious  that  their  reason 
ings  and  opinions  can  have,  and  ought  to  have,  no  other  influ 
ence  or  force  than  belongs  to  their  truth  and  soundness. 

A  system  of  laws  imposing  duties  for  the  encouragement 
and  protection  of  domestic  industry,  upon  the  faith  of  which  a 
large  portion  of  the  people  of  this  country  have  invested  their 
property  and  given  a  new  direction  to  the  labor,  and  with  a 
continuance  of  which  are  completely  identified  all  their  hopes 
of  maintenance  for  themselves  and  their  families,  has  been  re 
cently  denounced  as  "distinguished  by  every  characteristic 
which  may  define  a  tyranny  the  most  odious."  The  entire  ab 
olition  of  this  system,  vitally  involving  the  interest  of  farmers, 
mechanics,  manufacturers,  merchants  and  all  the  laboring 
classes,  has  been  demanded  in  a  tone  that  offers  no  hope  of 


POLITICAL    PAPERS. 

condition  or  compromise.  A  submission  to  such  a  demand, 
with  or  without  the  consent  of  those  who  must  be  the  victims, 
would  be  marked  by  such  scenes  of  ruin  and  despair,  as  no 
one,  not  blinded  by  the  strongest  passions  of  our  nature,  could 
witness  without  compunction. 

We  address  ourselves,  then,  to  the  enlightened  patriotism 
of  our  fellow-citizens  in  every  part  of  the  Union  ;  and  we  earn 
estly  entreat  them  to  accompany  us  in  the  examination  which 
we  propose  to  make  of  the  arguments  and  statements  recently 
put  forth  ;  appealing  to  their  clear  discernment  of  truth,  their 
high  sense  of  duty,  and  their  calm  moral  courage  to  avert  the 
evils  that  now  seems  to  threaten  the  prosperity  and  peace  of 
the  country. 

Of  these  topics,  the  first  in  order  and  the  gravest  in  char 
acter,  respects  the  constitutional  power  of  Congress  to  pass  the 
laws  which  are  the  subject  of  complaint. 

As  a  constitutional  question,  the  inquiry  is  not  whether  the 
laws  are  wise  or  unwise,  whether  in  their  operations  they  are 
always  equal,  or  sometimes  unequal,  or  whether  individuals 
may  not  think  them  so  wide  a  departure  from  a  just  adminis 
tration  of  the  powers  of  the  government  as  to  be,  in  an  indefi 
nite  and  loose  sense,  inconsistent  with  the  spirit  of  the  consti 
tution.  The  true  and  real  question  is,  do  they  exceed  the  pow 
er  of  the  law-giver ;  and  do  they,  for  that  reason,  fail  to  be  ob 
ligatory  ? 

We  dissent  from  the  notion  that  laws  plainly  unconstitu 
tional  may  be  yet  so  framed  as  to  escape  the  animadversion  of 
courts  of  law.  If  unconstitutional,  their  true  character  will 
either  appear  on  their  face  or  may  be  made  to  appear  by  sta 
ting  the  facts  which  fasten  that  character  upon  them.  And  if 
the  motives  which  are  supposed  to  have  influenced  Congress  in 
their  enactment  are  not  facts  which  may  be  properly  inquired 
into  to  give  them  this  character,  the  reason  is,  not  that  Con 
gress  has  executed  an  unlawful  power  or  veiled  an  unlawful 
purpose  under  a  general  law,  but  that  the  general  power  being 
given  to  Congress  to  pass  such  laws,  the  purpose  of  the  law, 


DOMESTIC    INDUSTRY. 

like  its  occasion,  its  duration,  or  any  other  part  of  its  charac 
ter,  is  constitutionally  referred  to  the  discretion  of  Congress. 

The  present  constitution  has  been  in  operation  (with  a  suc 
cess  not  more  gratifying  to  ourselves  than  surprising  to  the 
rest  of  the  world)  for  forty-two  years.  Twenty-one  different 
Congresses,  regularly  elected  and  appointed  by  the  people, 
and  their  agents,  and  the  State  Legislatures,  have  successively 
assembled  to  enact  laws  under  its  authority.  Seven  distin 
guished  individuals  have  been  called  by  the  voice  of  the  coun 
try  to  the  chair  of  the  chief  magistracy,  all  holding  and  some 
of  them,  on  various  occasions,  having  exercised  the  power  of 
giving  a  negative  to  such  acts  of  Congress  as,  in  their  opinion, 
transcended  the  just  limit  of  legislative  authority.  During  the 
same  period  a  supreme  judicial  tribunal  has  existed,  not  less 
distinguished  for  purity  and  talent  than  for  dignity  and  import 
ance,  whose  high  function  it  properly  is  to  pronounce  its  sol 
emn  judgment  on  the  constitutional  extent  of  the  power  of  Con 
gress  whenever  any  exercise  of  that  power  is  complained  of 
and  the  case  is  brought  duly  before  it.  Most  of  these  succes 
sive  Congresses  have  passed  laws  similar  in  character,  in  de 
sign,  and  in  effect,  to  the  acts  now  complained  of;  and  all  of 
them  have  unequivocally  sanctioned  their  principle.  All  these 
chief  magistrates,  in  like  manner,  have,  without  doubt  or  hes 
itation,  recognized  the  existence  of  the  power  ;  and  no  ques 
tion  of  its  validity  has  been  raised  in  the  judicial  tribunals. 
It  is  under  this  weight  of  authority,  and  this  length  of  practice 
in  its  favor,  and  after  the  investment,  upon  the  faith  of  it,  of  a 
capital  probably  amounting  to  two  hundred  and  fifty  millions 
of  dollars,  that  a  disposition  has  now  sprung  up  to  deny  the 
power  altogether,  and  to  propose,  if  its  exercise  be  persisted  in, 
a  resort  to  such  means  of  redress  as  threaten  the  Union. 

We  cannot  but  persuade  ourselves  that  before  the  Ameri 
can  people  abandon  a  system  of  laws,  now  of  long  continu 
ance,  passed  at  different  times  by  the  constituted  authorities 
with  the  full  approbation  of  the  whole  country  ;  and  especially, 
before  they  break  up  their  Government  and  return  to  a  state 


90  POLITICAL    PAPERS. 

of  anarchy,  on  the  ground  that  such  laws  are  unconstitutional, 
they  will  give  to  that  question  a  very  careful  and  serious  con 
sideration. 

Before  proceeding  to  express  the  general  views  entertained 
on  this  important  subject  by  the  members  of  this  convention, 
it  is  not  altogether  uninteresting  to  inquire  how  far  admissions 
or  concessions  have  been  made  by  those  who  deny  the  exist 
ence  of  the  power,  notwithstanding  the  general  and  positive 
terms  in  which  that  denial  is  expressed. 

It  seems  to  us,  indeed,  that  the  plain  object  of  the  con 
stitution,  and  the  strong  reason  of  the  case,  have  driven  those 
who  deny  the  power,  even  upon  their  own  mistaken  view 
of  its  source,  into  the  necessity  of  making  admissions  which, 
when  made,  leave  no  ground  for  their  argument.  They  deny 
that  Congress  can  rightfully  lay  duties  for  the  sole,  or  the 
main  purpose,  of  encouraging  manufactures  ;  but  they  admit, 
at  the  same  time,  that  Congress  may  lay  duties  for  revenue, 
and  that,  in  laying  such,  duties,  it  may  so  arrange  them  as  in 
cidentally  to  give  protection  to  manufactures.  They  admit,  too, 
that  Congress  may  lay  duties  not  designed  for  revenue,  but 
designed  to  countervail  the  injurious  regulations  of  foreign  powers. 
Are  not  these  concessions  inconsistent  with  the  main  propo 
sition  ?  How  can  it  be  longer  denied  that  Congress  may  lay 
duties  for  protection,  after  it  is  conceded  that  it  may  arrange 
duties  with  that  view  ?  It  cannot  be  true  that  the  power  was 
given  for  revenue  only,  and  that  it  ought  to  be  strictly  confined 
to  that  object,  and  true,  also,  that,  in  selecting  subjects  of 
duties,  regard  may  be  had  to  a  different  object. 

An  individual  in  society  is  the  consumer  of  a  particular 
foreign  article  ;  he  finds  it  heavily  taxed  by  duties,  while  other 
articles,  equally  capable  of  producing  revenue,  are  untaxecl. 
Does  it  make  any  difference  to  him,  whether  the  article  neces 
sary  to  him  was  seized  on,  as  the  main  purpose  of  the  law, 
with  the  sole  object  of  protection,  or  whether  it  was  only  inci 
dentally  selected  in  order  to  favor  the  manufacturer,  while  the 
commodities  consumed  by  his  neighbors,  though  equally  fit 


DOMESTIC    INDUSTRY.  91 

subjects  for  a  tax  for  revenue,  are  passed  over  in  this  inci 
dental  arrangement  ?  Will  not  every  ingenuous  mind  at  once 
agree  that  if  the  power  to  lay  duties  was  conferred  on  Con 
gress  for  the  sole  purpose  of  revenue,  it  is  a  violation  of  its 
trust  to  mingle  any  other  purpose  with  that,  as  much  as  it 
would  be  to  substitute  an  entire  new  purpose  for  it  ?  Con 
gress  cannot  look  with  one  glance  to  revenue,  and  the  other 
to  protection,  if  the  Constitution  limit  its  power  to  revenue 
alone.  When  it  is  thus  said  that  protection  is  a  fit  object  to 
be  regarded  incidentally,  in  laying  duties,  but  that  the  general 
purpose  must  still  be  revenue,  who  shall  inform  us  how  much, 
in  the  motives  of  Congress,  must  be  the  main  purpose  of 
revenue,  and  how  much  may  be  the  incidental  purpose  of  pro 
tection  ?  How  high  may  the  incidental  object  rise,  and  the 
law  be  yet  constitutional ;  or  at  what  point  will  it  have  ap 
proached  so  near  the  main,  or  the  only  object  of  the  duty,  as 
to  render  the  law  void  ?  It  may  be  answered,  possibly,  that 
the  admission  goes  no  farther  than  this :  that  when  Congress 
has  already  resolved  to  lay  duties,  then  it  may,  as  a  subsequent 
resolution,  resolve  to  lay  them  on  such  a  selection  of  articles 
as  shall  best  favor  manufactures.  But  would  not  such  a  subse 
quent  resolution  be  wholly  aside  from  the  exercise  of  a  mere 
revenue  power  ?  Would  it  not  be  a  clear  imposition  of  duties 
for  protection  ?  And  might  it  not  lead,  practically,  to  the  same 
consequences,  since,  under  this  admitted  power  of  selection 
and  arrangement,  the  whole  burden  of  the  Government  might 
be  laid  with  a  direct  view  to  protection  merely. 

The  other  admission,  that  is,  that  Congress  may  lay  duties 
to  countervail  the  commercial  relations  of  other  States,  seems  to 
us  still  more  decisive.  This  concedes,  at  once,  that  the  power 
to  lay  duties  is  not  a  mere  revenue  power  •  for  here  is  one 
admitted  case,  in  which  it  may  properly  be  exercised,  which 
has  no  relation  to  revenue.  Yet  this  is  no  particular  or  specified 
power.  The  Constitution  no  more  points  out  this,  as  being  a 
proper  object,  than  it  points  out  protection.  If  it  be  pro 
vided  for  at  all,  it  is  because  it  is  embraced  in  the  general 


y^  POLITICAL    PAPERS. 

words  of  the  grant.  It  is  there,  or  it  is  nowhere.  Laws, 
laying  duties  to  countervail  the  regulations  of  other  States, 
are  regulations  of  trade.  They  are  not  only  like  laws  of  pro 
tection,  but  they  are,  emphatically,  themselves  laws  of  protec 
tion.  They  have  usually  no  other  end  or  design  than  to  pro 
tect  the  manufactures  or  other  interests  of  our  own  citizens 
from  the  effect  of  unequal  competition  or  monopoly  on  the 
part  of  other  nations.  Congress,  then,  upon  this  admission, 
may  lay  duties  with  the  single  object  of  encouraging  certain 
descriptions  of  domestic  employment  or  industry  ;  and  it  re 
mains  for  those  who  concede  this,  and  yet  deny  the  general 
power,  to  show  how  it  is,  that  Congress  has  power,  in  its  dis 
cretion,  to  protect  some  classes  of  industry  and  no  power,  in 
the  same  discretion  and  by  the  same  means,  to  protect  others. 
But  the  admission  goes  still  further.  It  not  only  furnishes  an 
analogy  for  the  case  in  argument,  but  meets  and  covers  that 
identical  case.  The  laws  so  much  opposed,  and  whose  con 
stitutional  validity  is  so  loudly  denied,  are  themselves  no  other 
than  so  many  acts  passed  to  countervail  the  injurious  com 
mercial  regulations  of  foreign  States. 

The  United  States  have  not  been  the  first  to  reject  the 
theory  of  free  trade.  They  have  not  introduced  into  the 
world  new  modes  of  legislation.  They  have  not  originated  a 
system  of  protection ;  far  otherwise.  At  the  very  moment 
they  had  succeeded  to  throw  off  their  colonial  bondage  and 
had  established  their  own  independence,  they  found  that  their 
condition,  so  far  as  respected  commerce,  agriculture  and 
manufactures,  was  but  partially  bettered  by  the  change,  be 
cause  they  found  the  ports  of  the  leading  states  of  Europe 
shut  against  their  ships  and  against  their  products.  They 
offered  free  trade  to  all  nations ;  but  the  nations,  with  one 
accord,  rejected  their  offer.  The  subjects  of  other  States 
were  protected,  as  against  them,  by  the  laws  of  other  States  ; 
but  they  were  protected  against  nobody.  It  is  undeniably 
true,  that  this  condition  of  things  was  one  of  the  very  causes 
which  led  to  the  adoption  of  the  present  Government.  It  is 


DOMESTIC    INDUSTRY.  93 

unquestionable,  as  matter  of  historic  record,  that  one  strong 
motive  for  forming  and  establishing  the  present  constitution 
was  to  organize  a  Government  that  should  possess  the  power  of 
countervailing  these  foreign  regulations  by  adequate  measures, 
and  thereby  protecting  the  labor  and  industry  of  the  people 
of  the  country.  Countervailing  laws  were  accordingly  passed 
at  the  very  first  session  of  the  first  Congress  ;  others  have 
been  passed  at  various  times  since  ;  one  and  all,  they  partake 
of  the  same  character ;  they  are  all  countervailing  laws  ren 
dered  expedient  and  necessary  by  the  policy  pursued  by 
other  nations.  The  Republic  is  now  composed  of  thirteen 
millions  of  people  ;  all  the  principal  products  of  eight  or 
nine  of  these  thirteen  millions  are,  at  this  moment,  shut 
out  from  the  great  market  of  consumption  abroad,  either  by 
absolute  prohibition  or  by  high  duties  ;  and  it  is  to  meet 
this  state  of  things,  it  is  to  countervail  these  foreign  regulations, 
so  injurious  to  us  ;  it  is  to  place  ourselves  on  some  footing  of 
equality ;  it  is  to  rescue  the  labor  of  the  American  people 
from  an  inferiority,  a  subjection,  at  once  dishonorable  and 
burdensome,  at  once  degrading  to  its  character  while  it  in 
creases  its  toils,  that  those  very  laws  were  originally  passed, 
have  all  along  continued,  and  now  exist.  They  are,  therefore, 
countervailing  laws  and  no  other  in  every  just  sense  of  these 
terms. 

Having  made  these  remarks  on  what  is  conceded  by  those 
who  deny  the  power  of  Congress  to  protect  manufactures,  and 
on  the  effect  of  that  concession,  we  proceed  to  present  the 
view  which  this  meeting  entertains  on  the  general  consti 
tutional  question. 

By  the  Constitution  Congress  has  power  "  to  lay  and  col 
lect  taxes,  duties,  imposts  and  excises."  It  has  power  also 
"  to  regulate  commerce  with  foreign  nations." 

The  power  to  lay  duties  is  accompanied  by  one  express 
qualification  or  limitation,  which  is,  "  that  all  duties  shall  be 
uniform  throughout  the  United  States."  The  power  to  regu 
late  commerce  has  its  limitation  also,  which  is,  that  no  regula- 


POLITICAL    PAPEKS. 

tion  of  commerce  shall  give  preference  to  the  ports  of  one 
State  over  those  of  another ;  and  there  is  another  limitation, 
which  may  apply  to  both  clauses,  namely,  that  no  export  duty 
shall  ever  be  laid. 

Here  then  is  a  grant  of  power  in  broad  and  general  terms, 
but  with  certain  specific  limitations,  carefully  expressed.  But 
neither  of  these  limitations  applies,  in  any  manner,  to  that 
exercise  of  the  power  which  is  now  under  consideration. 
Neither  of  them,  nor  any  other  clause  or  word  in  the  whole 
Constitution  manifests  the  slightest  intention  to  restrain  the 
words  so  as  to  prohibit  Congress  from  laying  duties  for  pro 
tection.  The  attempt  is  nothing  less  than  to  add  a  restriction 
which  the  Constitution  has  omitted.  Who  has  authority  to 
add  this  ?  If  other  restrictions  had  been  intended  they  would 
have  been  expressed.  When  the  business  of  limitation  was 
before  the  convention  what  was  omitted  was  as  much  an 
exercise  of  intention  as  what  was  expressed.  It  stated  all  the 
restraints  on  Congress  which  it  intended ;  and  to  impose 
others  now  would  be,  not  to  interpret  the  Constitution,  but  to 
change  it ;  not  to  construe  the  existing  instrument,  but  to 
make  another. 

The  words  of  the  grant  being  general,  to  lay  duties  and 
to  regulate  commerce,  their  meaning  is  to  be  ascertained  by 
reference  to  the  common  use  and  import  of  language.  No 
unusual  signification  is  to  be  given  to  the  terms,  either  to 
restrain  or  enlarge  their  import.  Congress,  in  its  discretion, 
is  to  lay  duties  and  to  regulate  trade  for  all  the  objects  and 
purposes  for  which  duties  are  ordinarily  laid  and  trade  ordi 
narily  regulated.  If  such  a  thing  was  never  before  heard  of 
as  laying  duties  and  regulating  trade  with  a  view  to  encourage 
manufactures,  then  it  might  be  said  that  the  convention  did 
not  contemplate  such  an  exercise  of  the  power  by  Congress. 
But  it  was  perfectly  known  to  the  convention  and  to  the  people 
of  this  country  that  one  leading  object  with  all  govern 
ments,  in  laying  duties  and  regulating  <*ade,  was,  and  for  a 
long  time  had  been,  the  encouragement  of  manufactures. 


DOMESTIC    INDUSTRY. 


95 


This  was  emphatically  true  of  England,  whose  language  the 
convention  spoke  and  whose  legal  and  legislative  phraseology 
was  theirs  also.  Every  leading  state  of  Europe  was,  at  that 
moment,  regulating  its  commerce  for  purposes  of  this  nature. 
Such  a  purpose,  indeed,  had  been  long  sought  to  be  accom 
plished  by  some  of  the  States  themselves,  by  their  own  regu 
lations  of  trade.  Massachusetts  had  attempted  it,  New  York 
had  attempted  it,  Virginia  had  attempted  it,  and  we  believe 
other  States  had  done  the  same.  How  ineffectual  all  their 
attempts  were  for  want  of  union  and  a  general  system,  was 
soon  seen  and  felt  by  the  whole  country  ;  but  they  show  to 
what  ends,  and  to  what  uses  the  power  to  regulate  trade  was 
understood  to  extend.  But  not  only  in  other  nations,  and  in 
the  States,  before  the  adoption  of  the  present  Constitution,  as 
we  shall  have  occasion  to  show  hereafter,  but  in  the  United 
States  since,  and  in  the  administration  of  this  very  Constitution, 
regulations  of  trade  have  been  made,  in  almost  innumerable 
instances,  with  no  view  to  revenue,  but  with  a  sole  and  exclusive 
regard  to  protection. 

If  our  understanding  of  the  Constitution  be  not  according 
to  its  true  meaning,  that  instrument  has  been  grossly  violated 
from  the  very  beginning.  What  are  all  the  registry  acts,  what 
the  bounties  on  the  fisheries,  but  so  many  avowed  efforts  to 
protect  American  Industry,  under  the  power  of  regulating 
trade  ?  On  what  foundation  does  the  whole  system  of  the 
coasting  trade  stand  ?  The  American  ship-builder  and  ship 
owner  has  enjoyed,  from  the  first,  and  we  think  properly,  not 
only  protection  in  that  trade,  but  the  monopoly  of  it.  He 
shuts  out  all  foreign  competition,  and  he  does  so  on  the  ground 
that  the  public  good  is  promoted  by  giving  him  this  advantage. 
We  think  he  is  right  in  asking  this,  and  the  Government  right 
in  granting  it.  Yet  this  is  not  free  trade  :  it  is  preference  ;  it 
'^protection,  and  protection  of  a  .manufacture  under  the  power 
to  regulate  trade.  The  laws  giving  this  protection  to  the  man 
ufacture  and  the  use  of  ships  may  be  wise,  and  laws  protecting 
other  manufactures,  may  be  unwise.  But  the  first  cannot  be 


96  POLITICAL    PAPERS. 

constitutional  and  the  latter  not  constitutional.  If  there  be 
power  for  one,  there  is  power  for  both.  Both  are  drawn  from 
the  same  grant,  both  operate  by  the  same  general  means,  and 
both  regard  the  same  object,  the  protection,  namely,  of  Amer 
ican  labor  and  capital  against  foreign  competition.  If  it  be 
said  that  the  navigation  act  is  founded  in  national  policy  and 
that  it  is  essential  to  national  defence  and  national  independ 
ence,  we  admit  it.  But  we  answer,  in  the  first  place,  that  Con 
gress  could  not  exercise  a  power  not  granted,  merely  because 
it  might  be  useful  or  necessary :  and,  in  the  second  place,  we 
say  that  the  same  remark  is  true  of  the  policy  of  protecting 
manufactures.  That  policy,  also,  is  essential  to  national  inde 
pendence.  Iron,  hemp  and  clothing  for  sailors  and  soldiers 
are  not  less  indispensable  to  national  defence  than  ships  and 
seamen.  Not  only  in  the  general  use  of  language,  then,  does 
the  power  of  laying  duties  and  regulating  trade  extend  to  the 
protection,  by  the  use  of  such  means,  of  domestic  manufac 
tures,  but  such  has  been  the  constant  interpretation  of  the  Con 
stitution  itself. 

We  think,  indeed,  that  when  a  general  power  is  given  to 
Congress  by  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  in  plain 
and  unambiguous  words,  their  acts  are  constitutional  and 
valid  if  they  are  within  the  scope  of  the  granted  power ;  and 
that,  in  considering  the  validity  of  the  law,  the  motives  of  the 
legislature  can  never  be  investigated.  Having  granted  the 
power,  with  such  limits  expressed  as  were  thought  proper,  its 
exercise,  within  those  limits,  is  left  to  the  discretion  of  Con 
gress. 

What  is  the  true  character  of  the  opposite  doctrine  ?  It  is, 
that  the  constitutionality  of  a  law  depends,  not  on  its  provis 
ions  and  enactments,  but  on  the  motives  of  those  who  passed 
it.  Is  not  such  a  notion  new?  How  are  we  to  ascertain 
the  motives  of  a  legislature  ?  By  private  inquiry  ;  by  pub 
lic  examination  ;  by  conjecture  ?  The  law  may  be  passed 
on  mixed  motives :  some  members  voting  for  revenue ;  some 
for  protection  ;  or  one  house  may  act  with  one  view,  and  the 


DOMESTIC    INDUSTRY.  97 

other  house  with  another.     What  will  be  the  character  of  such 
a  law  ? 

According  to  this  new  theory,  if  the  motives  be  constitu 
tional  then  the  act  is  j  if  the  motives  be  unconstitutional  then 
the  act  is  unconstitutional  also.  It  follows,  therefore,  that  a 
law  passed  by  one  Congress  may  be  constitutional  which,  if 
passed  by  another,  though  in  the  same  words,  would  be  unconsti 
tutional.  Besides,  on  this  theory  a  law  may  be  unconstitution 
al  for  its  omissions  as  well  as  its  enactments ;  because,  in  lay 
ing  duties,  articles  may  be  omitted  as  well  as  articles  inserted, 
from  a  design  to  favor  manufactures. 

We  may  pursue  this  inquiry  a  step  further. 

In  order  to  ascertain  whether  an  act  were  passed  primarily 
for  revenue,  the  construing  pow-er  must  be  authorized  to  inquire 
whether  that  revenue  be  necessary.  For  if  it  be  conceded  that 
Congress  has  a  constitutional  power  to  raise  an  indefinite 
amount  of  revenue,  such  a  concession  will  cover  any  system  of 
imposts  that  may  ever  be  adopted.  The  right  to  raise  more 
revenue  than  the  expenses  of  government  require  implies  the 
exercise  of  a  power  to  tax  under  circumstances  in  which  the 
raising  of  revenue  cannot  be  a  primary  purpose,  but  in  which 
a  purpose  to  protect  industry  or,  in  other  words,  what  has  been 
called  the  incidental  object,  may  be  rendered,  in  effect,  the 
principal  object  of  the  tax,  although  veiled  under  the  revenue 
power.  For  these  reasons  we  say  it  follows,  as  an  inevitable 
consequence,  under  this  view  of  the  source  of  the  protective 
power,  that  the  constitutionality  of  any  system  of  imposts, 
professing  to  be  directed  to  revenue,  must  depend  upon 
the  fact  whether  that  revenue  be  necessary  to  the  Government 
or  not. 

The  statement  of  such  a  consequence  is  sufficient  to  show 
what  endless  difficulties  must  embarrass  the  operations  of  the 
Government  in  defining  the  limits  of  this  incidental  protection, 
which  has  been  alleged  to  be  the  only  protection  that  the  Con 
stitution  allows,  and  of  itself  affords,  what  we  conceive  to  be, 
an  unanswerable  argument  against  referring  the  right  to  pro- 
5 


98  POLITICAL    PAPERS. 

tect  industry  exclusively  to  that  clause  of  the  Constitution 
which  authorizes  Congress  to  lay  imposts  for  the  purposes  of 
revenue. 

To  determine  whether  any  proposed  amount  of  revenue  be 
necessary  would,  in  a  great  number  of  cases,  prove  a  fruitful 
source  of  vexatious  and  unprofitable  controversy.  One  party, 
conceiving  it  wise  to  improve  the  face  of  the  territory  with  ex 
pensive  roads  and  canals,  to  provide  fortifications  and  the  mu 
nitions  of  war,  and  to  accumulate  treasure  in  the  expectation 
of  national  difficulties-,  would  find  good  reason  to  maintain  that 
a  large  revenue  was  indispensable  to  the  nation.  With  this 
party  a  high  and  burdensome  rate  of  imposts,  fully  adequate 
to  the  most  extensive  protection  of  manufactures  that  has  ever 
been  asked  for,  would  be  a  constitutional  application  of  the 
revenue  power.  Another  party,  more  thrifty  in  their  policy, 
holding  that  the  expenditures  of  the  Government  should  be 
graduated  to  the  lowest  practicable  scale  of  economy,  would 
contend  that  nothing  should  be  raised  by  duties  above  the  or 
dinary  supplies  necessary  for  the  pay  of  the  public  agents. 
With  this  class  all  the  excess,  above  the  sum  that  they  might 
hold  to  be  necessary,  would  be  the  fruit  of  an  unconstitutional 
tax.  Who  should  judge  between  these  conflicting  opinions? 
If  such  were  the  limits  upon  the  power  of  Congress  it  would 
be  true,  as  has  been  said,  that  there  might  be  acts  in  violation  of 
the  Constitution  which  would  elude  the  notice  of  the  judicial 
tribunals  ;  but  the  evident  absurdity  of  subjecting  the  right  to 
exercise  fundamental  powers  to  so  vague  and  intangible  a 
standard  of  interpretation,  furnishes  one  of  the  most  satisfacto 
ry  proofs  that  no  such  intention  existed  in  the  minds  of  those 
who  framed  our  Constitution. 

Pursuing  the  investigation,  it  will  be  found  that  the  difficul 
ty  attending  this  notion  of  the  source  of  the  protecting  power 
does  not  end  with  the  impracticability  of  determining  upon  the 
necessity  of  revenue.  It  goes  still  deeper.  It  is  affirmed,  and 
no  doubt  with  truth,  that  a  reduction  of  duties  upon  the  neces 
saries  or  customary  luxuries  of  a  nation  frequently  increases  the 


DOMESTIC    INDUSTRY.  99 

revenue.  In  such  an  event  the  defenders  of  the  position  that 
the  power  of  Congress  is  limited  to  the  supply-  of  a  necessary 
revenue,  will  find  themselves  unexpectedly  put  in  possession  of 
a  surplus  income  which,  according  to  the  assumed  principle, 
they  had  no  right  to  raise ;  and  it  will  be  apparent  that  the  peo 
ple  will  be  even  more  taxed  then  they  were  before ;  for  the  duty 
having  been  rendered  productive  of  a  larger  amount  of  reve 
nue  to  the  Government,  a  greater  aggregate  sum  will  have  been 
taken  from  the  pockets  of  the  people  ;  and  it  will  then  be  found 
that  Congress,  instead  of  lessening  the  public  burdens  by  their 
reduction  of  duties,  will  have  only  been  encouraging  the  con 
sumption  of  a  greater  quantity  of  the  taxed  article.  A  large 
consumption  with  a  small  tax  being,  in  this  case,  more  than 
equivalent  to  a  small  consumption  with  a  large  tax.  And  thus, 
in  spite  of  all  the  precautions  which  the  most  scrupulous  guar 
dians  of  the  Constitution  may  exercise,  the  public  functionaries, 
against  their  will  and  with  the  most  conscientious  desire  to 
avoid  infractions  of  the  law,  will  oftentimes  be  fated  to  discov 
er  that  they  have  produced  unconstitutional  results.  The  only 
remedy  for  which  would  seem  to  be  to  abandon  this  intracta 
ble  mode  of  taxation  by  imposts  and  resort  to  direct  taxes  upon 
the  people. 

As  long,  however,  as  such  results  may  follow  the  reduction 
of  duties,  it  will  be  seen  that  a  system  which  merely  increases 
the  consumption  of  imported  commodities  without  diminishing 
the  revenue  will  be,  in  effect,  the  adoption  of  a  policy  for  the 
encouragement  of 'foreign  industry.  And  we  might  here  pause 
and  ask,  whether  it  can  be  supposed  that  the  founders  of  our 
Government  intended  to  give  a  power  to  Congress  to  adopt  a 
scheme  of  policy  directed  to  the  encouragement  of  foreign  .la 
bor  by  a  scale  of  low  duties,  without  also  allowing  to  that  body 
a  right,  when  they  found  it  convenient,  to  encourage  domestic 
ijtdustry  by  a  higher  scale  of  duties?  Let  those  who  answer 
this  question  in  the  affirmative,  show  some  reason  for  the  opin 
ion  that  the  convention  which  framed  the  Constitution  should 
set  more  value  upon  a  power  to  encourage  foreign  industry, 


100  POLITICAL    PAPERS. 

under  any  possible  necessity  to  exercise  it,  than  upon  a  similar 
power  to  encourage  and  protect  our  own. 

We  think  we  have  said  enough  to  indicate  the  pernicious 
tendencies  of  the  doctrine,  sustained  by  many  eminent  citizens 
of  our  land,  which  ascribes  the  right  to  protect  domestic  man 
ufactures,  solely  to  the  revenue  power  conferred  by  the  Con 
stitution  upon  Congress ;  and  have  demonstrated  that  this 
error,  if  adopted,  must  lead  the  public  functionaries  into  prac 
tical  embarrassments  entirely  irreconcilable  with  a  wholesome 
administration  of  the  laws. 

With  a  view  to  show  that  the  protection  of  manufacturing  in 
dustry  is  mainly  refe.rrible  to  the  power  to  regulate  commerce, 
and  was  intended  to  be  embraced  by  the  clause  of  the  Consti 
tution  that  invests  the  supreme  legislature  with  that  power,  in 
addition  to  the  suggestions  that  we  have  already  made,  we 
deem  it  not  unprofitable  briefly  to  recur  to  the  history  of  the 
country,  from  which  we  shall  derive  lights  that  may  guide  us 
to  the  most  unerring  conclusions  in  confirmation  of  our  doc 
trine.  The  narrative  of  events  from  1783  to  1787,  the  cir 
cumstances  attending  the  adoption  of  the  Constitution  and  the 
range  of  its  early  operations,  while  yet  in  the  hands  of  its  au 
thors,  afford  a  mass  of  testimony  that  Congress  has  but  re 
sponded  to  the  expectations  of  the  country  in  so  regulating 
trade  as  to  furnish  the  requisite  protection  to  the  expansion 
and  growth  of  our  own  labor. 

The  regulation  of  commerce  was  not  a  new  term  invented  by 
the  framers  of  the  Constitution.  It  was  at  the  time  of  the 
adoption  of  that  instrument  by  the  people  a  term  familiar  to 
their  apprehension  and  impressed  upon  their  understandings, 
by  the  strongest  comments  that  the  history  of  oppression  could 
furnish.  The  war  of  the  revolution,  that  had  just  closed, 
sprang  out  of  the  conflicts  in  which  this  subject  had  been  pre 
sented  in  the  countless  forms  which  an  engrossing  topic  of 
complaint  may  be  supposed  to  assume  in  the  discussions  of  an 
excited  and  rebelling  people.  The  same  subject  had  been 
canvassed  in  the  British  Parliament  until  argument  and  decla- 


DOMESTIC    INDUSTRY.  101 

mation  were  exhausted.  The  mother  country  had  regulated 
the  commerce  of  the  colonies,  through  a  series  of  odious  and 
unfeeling  restrictions,  for  more  than  a  century,  until  the  phrase 
had  acquired  the  notoriety  of  a  hateful  grievance.  She  had 
fettered  their  trade  by  cruel  prohibitions,  and  controlled  their 
labor  by  systems  of  denial  that  reduced  them  to  the  lowest 
state  of  suffering ;  yet  it  is  remarkable,  that,  deeming  this 
oppressive  policy  a  lawful  exercise  of  the  prerogative  of  regu 
lating  commerce,  the  colonies  submitted  to  these  evils  with  a 
resignation  that  indicated  their  sense  of  the  duty  of  obedience 
to  an  acknowledged  though  misused  power.  All  manufac 
tures  calculated  to  bring  wealth  into  the  country,  were  strictly 
forbidden  ;  the  erection  of  forges,  for  example,  was  denounced 
as  a  nuisance,  and  these  establishments  were  liable  to  be 
abated  by  that  name  :  it  was  declared  unlawful  to  export  the 
simplest  fabrics,  even  of  shoes  or  hats,  from  one  province  to 
another.  Still  the  people  did  not  deny  the  legality  of  these 
attempts  to  regulate  commerce.  But  when  the  right  was  assumed 
to  collect  revenue  in  the  colonies  for  the  benefit  of  the  mother 
country,  the  first  assertion  of  such  a  principle  was  met  by 
open  rebellion.  The  distinction  was  palpable  enough,  to 
every  man,  between  these  two  pretensions  of  authority.  It  is 
worthy  of  remark,  that  Lord  Chatham,  in  1765  in  the  British 
House  of  Commons,  distinctly  defined  the  two  branches  of 
power  in  terms  that  literally  apply  to  the  subject  we  have  been 
discussing,  and  which  show  how  clearly  they  were  brought  to 
the  notice  of  the  country :  "  there  is  a  plain  distinction,"  is 
his  language,  "  between  taxes  levied  for  the  purpose  of  raising 
a  revenue,  and  duties  imposed  for  the  regulation  of  trade,  for 
the  accommodation  of  the  subject ;  although  in  the  conse 
quences,  some  revenue  might  incidentally  arise  from  the  latter" 
Indeed,  the  whole  tenor  of  the  public  discussion  on  those 
subjects  so  rife  at  that  period  throughout  England  and  America, 
furnishes  the  most  conclusive  evidence  that  a  specific  idea 
was  attached  to  the  phrase  incorporated  into  our  Constitution, 
and  that  its  scope  was  to  include  the  idea  of  levying  duties 


102  POLITICAL    PAPERS. 

in  such  a  form  as  to  encourage   and  protect,  or,  at  least  to 
control  and  direct,  the  growth  of  domestic  industry. 

The  complaints  against  the  articles  of  confederation,  for 
which  the  Constitution  was  substituted,  embraced,  among  other 
things,  an  objection  to  the  forms  by  which  the  legislation  in 
reference  to  the  regulation  of  commerce  was  impeded;  and  it 
was  a  prominent  design  of  the  new  constitution  to  remedy  this 
defect.  The  right  to  lay  even  prohibitory  duties  was  freely 
admitted  in  the  discussions  upon  the  Constitution ;  and  we  may 
safely  affirm  that  the  whole  nation,  at  that  day,  regarded  such 
a  power  as  one  of  the  necessary  conclusions  from  the  grant 
that  had  been  made.  The  subsequent  action  of  the  Govern 
ment  corroborates  this  idea.  The  first  approaches  of  the  peo 
ple  to  their  new  rulers  were  made  in  behalf  of  the  exercise  of 
a  protecting  power  in  favor  of  their  industry.  They  spoke  of 
the  injury  they  had  sustained  under  the  former  state  of  things ; 
of  the  ruinous  competition  to  which  the  policy  of  the  mother 
country  had  exposed  them ;  and  demanded  the  establishment 
of  a  system  of  measures  that  should  accomplish  their  favorite 
purpose  of  creating  a  vigorous  domestic  manufacture.  The 
unrestrained  admission  of  British  goods  had  reduced  our  man 
ufacturers  and  artisans  to  absolute  want:  the  free  entry  of 
British  shipping  had  expelled  our  vessels  from  the  ocean. 
From  Charleston  to  Boston  this  condition  of  things  was  the 
subject  of  one  loud  and  continued  remonstrance  ;  and  the  rem 
edy  for  it  was  a  prominent  object  in  the  establishment  of  anew 
general  government.  The  ship -builders  and  the  ship-owners 
complained  that  foreign  bottoms  brought  to  the  country  all 
that  was  imported,  to  their  ruin ;  and  they  besought  their  fel 
low-citizens  to  join  them  in  measures  of  protection.  The  man 
ufacturers  and  mechanics  declared  that  it  was  of  little  import 
ance  to  them  in  what  bottoms  articles  were  imported,  since 
this  unrestricted  importation,  in  whatever  bottoms,  threatened  to 
reduce  them  to  starvation.  Both  had  applied  to  their  own 
State  governments  for  redress,  but  these  governments,  from 
want  of  concert,  could  give  no  effectual  relief.  Attempts  had 


DOMESTIC    INDUSTRY.  103 

been  made  to  amend  the  articles  of  confederation  for  the  very 
purpose  of  conferring  this  power  upon  Congress ;  but  these  at 
tempts  had  failed.  Hence  it  was  that  the  establishment  of 
the  present  government  was  hailed  with  the  utmost  enthusiasm 
and  celebrated  in  the  principal  cities,  by  all  classes,  with  man 
ifestations  of  hope  and  joy. 

The  earliest  legislation  of  the  new  government  avows  and 
adopts  the  principle  for  which  we  have  been  contending.  The 
first  important  act  on  the  statute  book  contains  the  following 
preamble: — "Whereas  it  is  necessary  for  the  support  of  gov 
ernment  and  the  encouragement  and  protection  of  manufactures 
that  duties  be  laid  on  goods  and  merchandise." — This  pream 
ble  was  written,  supported  and  passed  by  those  who  had  come 
recently  from  the  convention  where  the  Constitution  had  been 
formed.  They  were  carrying  into  effect  their  own  instrument. 
They  seem,  indeed, — for  preambles  are  quite  unusual, — to  have 
introduced  this  for  the  purpose  of  showing  the  country  that  its 
expectations  would  be  fulfilled,  and  that  the  manufactures  of  the 
nation  would  be  protected.  If,  therefore,  the  existing  laws  vi 
olate  the  Constitution,  the  original  act  violated  it.  If  this 
charter  of  right  be  marred  now,  it  was  marred  then,  and  mar 
red  by  those  who  made  it. 

If  protection  be  unconstitutional  this  law  carries  unconsti 
tutionally  in  its  front ;  and  yet  not  one  member  of  the  first 
Congress  appears  to  have  thought  it  unconstitutional.  In  the 
whole  course  of  the  debates,  protracted  through  several  weeks, 
no  one  expressed  a  doubt  of  the  power  of  Congress  to  lay  du 
ties  for  protection  ;  we  may  therefore  affirm  that  the  power  was 
admitted  by  all.  Some  articles  were  taxed  for  revenue  only  ; 
some  for  protection  only ;  and  some  for  both.  The  published 
debates  show  all  this,  and,  as  we  have  already  said,  every  Con 
gress,  from  that  day  to  this,  has  recognized  the  same  power. 
Every  president,  beginning  with  him  who  is  justly  esteemed  the 
Father  of  his  Country,  has  sanctioned  it,  and  most  of  them  have 
recommended  its  exercise  in  earnest  terms.  Indeed,  it  has 
been  constantly  exercised  ;  protection  has  been  given  by  the 


104:  POLITICAL    PAPERS. 

registry  acts ;  it  has  been  given  by  the  tonnage  duly  acts ;  it 
has  been  given  by  the  acts  regulating  the  coasting  trade  ;  it  has 
been  given  to  the  fisheries;  it  has  been  given  to  the  cotton  of 
Carolina ;  to  the  coal  of  Virginia ;  to  the  hemp  of  Kentucky ;  to 
the  lead  of  Missouri  and  Illinois ;  to  the  sugar  of  Louisiana,  to 
the  iron  of  the  middle,  western  and  southern  States ;  and  it  has 
been  given  to  the  various  artisans,  mechanics  and  manufactu 
rers.  It  is  now  forty-two  years  since  this  system  of  protection 
began,  and  it  has  never  been  intermitted  or  suspended,  with 
regard  to  many  commodities,  for  a  single  hour.  Is  all  this  leg 
islation  now  to  be  deemed  unconstitutional  ?  Are  all  these  in 
terests  to  be  brought  into  jeopardy,  and  perhaps  to  ruin,  upon 
this  modern  construction  of  the  Constitution  ? 

Not  only  has  Congress  thus  constantly  exercised  this 
power,  but  it  has  thought  itself,  from  the  first,  under  peculiar 
obligations  to  exercise  it.  It  has  considered  that  it  would  be 
guilty  of  a  plain  breach  of  duty  if  it  should  not  exercise  it ; 
and  so  it  was  declared  in  its  first  session.  This  policy  was 
more  earnestly  enforced  upon  Congress  because  the  States 
had  surrendered  their  whole  power  on  this  question,  and  were, 
themselves,  prohibited  from  exercising-  it  by  the  Constitution 
itself;  since  as  they  could  not,  as  separate  States,  exercise  it 
well,  it  was  taken  away  from  them  and  vested  in  the  national 
legislature.  It  was  said,  therefore,  and  said  truly,  that  it 
would  be  a  fraud  upon  the  States,  if  Congress,  now  the  sole 
possessor  of  the  power,  should  refuse  to  exercise  it.  The  Con 
stitution  had  declared,  that  no  State  should  lay  any  duty  ex 
cept  for  the  mere  purpose  of  enforcing  its  inspection  laws.  Is 
it  conceivable,  that  the  people  would  agree  to  deprive  their 
own  State  governments  of  the  power  of  protecting  manufactures, 
by  suitable  regulations  of  trade,  without  the  consent  of  Con 
gress,  for  any  other  reason  than  because  this  power  was  in 
tentionally  transferred  to  the  general  Government?  The  doc 
trine  now  advanced,  imputes  the  strangest  absurdity,  both  to 
the  framers  of  the  Constitution  and  to  the  people.  It  supposes 
them,  instead  of  creating  a  new  remedy  for  acknowledged  evils, 


DOMESTIC    INDUSTRY.  105 

to  have  forever  abolished  the  poor  but  only  remedy  which 
already  existed.  It  supposes,  that  instead  of  giving  to  Con 
gress,  as  was  their  avowed  design,  effectual  power  to  protect 
manufactures,  they  did  no  more  than  prohibit  the  States 
from  exercising  that  power,  and  extinguish  it  as  a  thing  to 
be  deprecated  everywhere  and  altogether.  It  supposes 
them  to  have  imposed  new  shackles  on  their  own  limbs,  and 
to  have  surrendered  themselves,  thus  voluntarily  bound,  to 
the  mercy  of  their  foreign  competitors  and  rivals.  We  can 
not  yield  our  assent  to  opinions  which  ascribe  purposes  like 
these,  or  a  policy  like  this,  either  to  the  Convention  or  to  the 
people. 

It  only  remains  for  us  to  add,  that  the  public  judgment 
has.  at  all  times,  affirmed  the  existence  of  this  power,  and  ap 
proved  its  exercise.  Even  at  this  moment,  there  is  no  reason 
to  doubt  that  nine-tenths  of  all  the  people  hold  the  power  to 
be  constitutional.  It  is,  therefore,  not  only  against  the  words 
of  the  Constitution,  against  the  manifest  design  of  the  nation 
in  establishing  it,  against  the  uniform  sense  of  Congress  in 
passing  laws  under  it,  against  the  practice  of  forty  years,  never 
stayed  nor  suspended,  against  the  opinion  of  every  tribunal 
in  the  country,  as  far  as  we  are  informed  ;  but  it  is  also  against 
the  entire  conviction  of  a  vast  majority  of  the  people  them 
selves,  that  these  new  and  what  we  think  dangerous  opinions, 
are  now  brought  forward  as  the  true  doctrines  of  the  Constitu 
tion. 

It  is  an  error  to  suppose  that  the  regulation  of  commerce 
should  necessarily  imply  the  denial  of  a  right  to  restrict,  di 
minish  or  prohibit  any  particular  branch  of  it.  The  suppression 
of  any  trade,  injurious  to  the  community,  is  as  much  a  national 
concern,  and  as  valuable  an  exercise  of  power,  as  the  encour 
agement  of  other  branches ;  and,  indeed,  in  practice  it  must  of 
ten  occur  that  the  conferring  of  special  advantages  upon  one 
branch  of  trade  may  operate  partially  to  the  disadvantage  of 
all  others.  Such  is  often  the  effect  of  treaties  that  reserve  to 
the  vessels  of  part'cular  nations  free  entry  to  our  ports  :  the 
5* 


106  POLITICAL    PAPERS. 

commerce  with  such  nations  is  promoted  to  the  diminution  of 
fhe  trade  with  others  not  embraced  in  the  privilege.  This, 
however,  is  a  lawful,  just  and  profitable  regulation  of  com 
merce.  Commerce  includes  all  kinds  of  traffic,  whether  sus 
tained  upon  the  ocean  in  ships,  or  transported  on  roads,  rivers 
or  canals :  whether  it  belong  to  the  system  of  domestic  ex 
changes,  or  is  conversant  with  the  occupations  of  foreign  coun 
tries  ;  and  it  is  the  appropriate  function  of  Congress  to  regu 
late  it  in  such  manner  as  their  wisdom  may  dictate,  unlimited 
by  any  restraints  except  those  which  the  Constitution  imposes 
on  the  power  over  the  domestic  intercourse  of  the  States.  The 
regulation  of  our  commerce  with  the  Indian  tribes  has  sub 
jected  the  traffic,  from  time  to  time,  to  all  such  restrictions  as 
the  national  legislature  found  it  prudent  to  adopt ;  and  yet  this 
right  of  regulation  has  passed  unquestioned,  though  it  has 
been  directly  exercised  to  the  diminution  of  any  species  of 
traffic  that  has  been  considered  hurtful. 

It  is  nothing  more  than  a  regulation  of  commerce  to  shape 
our  policy,  in  reference  to  our  intercourse  with  foreign  nations, 
by  such  rules  as  shall  increase  the  products  of  our  own  labor 
to  an  amount  that  may  render  them  also  the  subjects  of  a 
foreign  trade,  and  thereby  extend  our  commerce  to  new  re 
gions,  and  give  it  new  accumulations  of  commodities.  The 
agricultural  products  of  a  nation  are  not  the  only  elements  of 
its  trade  ;  its  manufactures  may  be  as  desirable  to  foreign  com 
munities,  and  their  transportation  and  exchange  may  become 
fully  as  valuable  foundations  of  a  rapid,  enlarged  and  profita 
ble  commerce.  Why,  then,  should  the  power  to  regulate  com 
merce  be  supposed  to  be  arrested  at  that  middle  point  between 
the  prosecution  of  an  old  trade  and  the  commencement  of  a 
new  one  that  may,  eventually,  be  rendered  more  expansive, 
useful  and  productive  than  any  other  ?  Such  a  restraint  would 
seem  to  be  utterly  incompatible  with  the  genius  and  character 
of  any  vigorous  community,  but  especially  with  that  of  a  young 
and  healthy  nation. 

Before  we  leave  this  branch  of  our  inquiry  we  are  anxious 


DOMESTIC    INDUSTRY.  107 

to  present  the  constitutional  question  in  one  more  point  of 
view.  The  best  expositor  of  the  Constitution  is  that  instru 
ment  itself. 

The  tenth  section  of  the  first  article  of  the  Constitution  pro 
vides  that  "  no  State  shall,  without  the  consent  of  Congress,  lay 
any  imposts  or  duties  on  imports  or  exports  except  what  may 
be  absolutely  necessary  for  executing  its  inspection  laws."  The 
limitation  which  is  here  set  upon  the  legislation  of  the  States  is 
within  the  control  of  Congress.  The  consent  of  that  body  re 
leases  any  State  from  the  restriction  expressed  in  this  clause ; 
and  consequently  Congress  may  permit  either  or  all  of  the 
States,  separately,  to  levy  such  duties  upon  imports  as  they 
may  think  convenient :  it  may  allow  the  State  of  South  Caro 
lina,  for  example,  to  enact  a  tariff  of  the  highest  rates  of  duties, 
directed  exclusively  to  the  protection  of  any  branch  of  indus 
try  they  may  wish  to  foster.  It  will  be  observed  that  the  terms 
of  this  clause  of  the  Constitution  absolutely  forbid  the  idea  that 
such  a  power  is  to  be  exercised  for  revenue.  The  State  that 
imposes  the  duty  is  inhibited  from  taking  the  avails  into  its 
own  treasury,  but  must  pay  them  over  to  the  general  govern 
ment  ;  while  that  government,  on  the  other  hand,  has  the  full 
est  power  to  levy  and  collect  its  own  revenues,  and  consequent 
ly  cannot  be  presumed  to  yield  its  consent  to  the  State  enactment 
upon  considerations  of  that  nature.  That  consent,  therefore, 
is  intended  to  be  given,  if  it  be  ever  asked,  from  a  conviction 
of  the  beneficial  effect  expected  to  be  produced  in  the  State 
that  levies  the  duty — or  in  other  words,  of  its  value  as  a  pro 
tection  to  State  labor.  With  such  a  power  on  the  part  of 
Congress  to  permit  a  protective  system  to  be  enacted  in  the 
States  severally,  it  would  seem  to  be  a  solecism  to  suppose  that 
the  exercise  of  a  similar  power  was  intended  to  be  denied  to 
the  national  legislature  itself  to  whom  has  been  emphatically 
entiusted  the  whole  complicated  and  interesting  concern  of 
regulating  commerce. 

In  dismissing  this  review  of  the  principles  and  practice  of 
©ur  Government  in  their  relation  to  an  imDortant  constitutional 


108  POLITICAL    PAPERS. 

right,  we  take  the  occasion  to  say  that  we  contemplate  the 
character  of  the  present  opposition  to  what  we  have  endeav 
ored  to  exhibit  as  the  legitimate  powers  of  Congress,  with  re 
gret  :  and  if  we  could  persuade  ourselves  that  is  was  destined 
to  command  the  assent  of  any  large  portions  of  our  population, 
we  would  say  that  we  view  it  not  without  alarm.  This  oppo 
sition  appeals  not  to  the  discretion  of  Congress  ;  it  seeks  no 
modification,  nor  qualification,  but  demands  an  entire  and  ab 
solute  surrender  of  the  principle.  -  It  is  for  the  American  peo 
ple  to  decide  whether  this  surrender  can  be  made.  For  our 
selves,  we  do  not  scruple  to  declare  that,  in  our  opinion,  to 
give  up  this  power  would  be  to  give  up  the  Constitution.  If 
Congress  be  stripped  of  this  prerogative  and  the  restriction 
against  its  exercise  be  still  imposed  upon  the  States,  it  is  quite 
plain  to  our  apprehension,  that  the  doom  of  our  happy  and 
prosperous  Constitution  is  sealed.  We  consider  this  question, 
therefore,  as  vital ;  and  we  look  to  the  perpetuation  of  the  pow 
er  which  we  have  labored  to  defend,  and  its  just  exercis-e,  to 
be  indispensable  to  the  preservation  of  that  government  which 
has  conferred  on  the  people  of  these  States  innumerable  bless 
ings. 

You  are  next  invited  to  examine  the  subject  in  its  connec 
tion  with  the  principles  of  an  enlightened  political  economy. 
The  system  which  we  maintain  rests  upon  the  following  prin 
ciples  : 

All  the  means  of  human  enjoyment,  and  all  the  accumula 
tions  of  wealth,  are  the  product  of  human  labor.  National 
happiness  and  national  wealth  are,  therefore,  promoted  in  pro 
portion  to  the  active  industry  of  the  community  ;  and  that  in 
dustry  is  in  proportion  to  the  inducements  to  labor,  arising 
from  the  amount  and  certainty  of  its  remuneration.  The  im 
mediate  instrument  for  calling  labor  into  action  is  capital. 
Capital  is  necessary  to  furnish  the  laborer  with  the  means  of 
applying  his  labor  to  advantage,  whether  in  the  simple  tools 
of  agriculture  and  some  of  the  mechanic  arts,  or  in  the  com 
plicated  and  expensive  machinery  applied  to  certain  branches 


DOMESTIC    INDUSTRY.  109 

of  manufacture,  the  modern  improvements  in  which  have  add 
ed  so  much  to  the  productive  power  of  man. 

It  is  a  settled  axiom,  that  the  industry  of  a  nation  is  in  pro 
portion  to  the  capital  devoted  to  its  maintenance.  It  is,  there 
fore,  thought  to  be  a  wise  policy  to  multiply  the  inducements 
to  apply  capital  to  the  employment  of  labor  at  home,  rather 
than  to  the  purchase  abroad  and  traffic  in  commodities  of  for 
eign  production,  by  which  the  capital  of  the  country  is  made 
to  set  in  motion  foreign  labor.  This  is  founded  on  the  princi 
ple,  universally  admitted,  that  there  is,  in  every  nation,  a  power 
or  capability  of  labor  beyond  that  actually  put  forth  ;  and 
that  its  effective  industry  is  proportioned  to  the  stimulus  ap 
plied  in  the  shape  of  capital.  This  constitutes  the  American 
System.  It  invites  the  application  of  American  capital  to  stim 
ulate  American  industry.  It  imposes  a  restriction,  in  the  form 
of  an  imposed  duty,  on  certain  products  of  foreign  labor  ;  but 
so  far  as  relates  to  American  capital,  or  American  labor,  it 
simply  offers  security  and  inducement  to  the  one,  and  gives 
energy  and  vigor  to  the  other.  The  purpose  of  the  protec 
tive  system  being  thus  directed  to  the  utmost  expansion  of  the 
industry  of  the  nation  into  every  channel  of  domestic  competi 
tion,  it  would  seem  to  be  manifestly  erroneous  to  call  such  a 
system  restrictive,  inasmuch  as  the  avenues  of  labor  in  the  in 
ternal  organization  of  any  community  are  much  more  numerous 
and  extensive  than  those  which  belong  to  foreign  trade  :  while, 
on  the  other  hand,  there  are  no  restrictions  so  severe  upon  the 
occupation  of  our  citizens,  and  none  that  so  irresistibly  impel 
labor  into  a  small  number  of  channels  as  those  that  are  crea 
ted  by  the  capital  and  industry  of  older  nations  when  concen 
trated  and  brought  into  competition  with  the  capital  and  indus 
try  of  a  young  people  in  their  first  attempts  to  possess  them 
selves  of  the  arts  that  create  and  accumulate  wealth.  A  na 
tion  that  is  devoted  to  agriculture  only,  and  is  dependent  upon 
breign  labor  for  its  manufactures,  presents  the  spectacle  of  a 
people  whose  industry  is  confined  to  the  single  occupation  of 
cultivating  the  soil,  and  transporting  its  products  abroad,  and 


1  10  POLITICAL    PAI'KRR. 

is  always  subject  to  be  disturbed  by  the  policy  of 'those  on 
whom  it  depends  for  the  purchase  of  its  products  :  but  the 
same  nation,  when  encouraged  in  the  attempt  to  supply  itself 
with  manufactured  fabrics,  releases  its  labor  from  the  re 
straints  of  its  previous  straitened  condition,  and  is  seen  rapid 
ly  diversifying  its  pursuits  until  they  finally  cover  the  whole 
space  that  was  originally  divided  between  itself  and  the  people 
that  supplied  it  with  manufactures. 

It  is  true,  that  a  different  system  of  political  economy  is 
maintained  by  a  certain  school  of  theoretical  writers.  It  is 
contended  by  them,  that  restriction  upon  the  importation  of 
foreign  commodities,  under  any  circumstances,  is  a  mistaken 
economy ;  that  foreign  manufacturers  should  be  allowed  freely 
to  bring  in  their  wares,  although  they  will  receive  from  us  noth 
ing  in  exchange  but  the  precious  metals.  This  is  the  system 
which  has  been  lately  called  enlightened  We,  on  the  contra 
ry,  believe  it  to  be  founded  on  mistaken  views ;  and  that  a 
practical  application  of  it  would  paralyze  the  industry  of  the 
country.  The  fundamental  principle  in  this  system,  is  one 
which  we  deem  totally  erroneous.  It  considers  the  profits  of 
capital,  as  constituting  the  only  source  of  national  wealth.  It 
assumes  the  fact,  that  the  wages  of  labor  are  barely  sufficient 
to  support  the  laborer,  but  leave  him  nothing  for  accumulation. 
Now,  whether  this  may  or  may  not  be  true,  in  the  fully  peo 
pled  countries  of  Europe,  it  is  palpable  to  the  slightest  obser 
vation,  that  in  reference  to  labor  in  the  United  States  it  is  ab 
solutely  and  totally  false.  Such  is  the  abundance  of  the  means 
of  subsistence  in  this  favored  country,  that  the  laborer  is  able 
to  accumulate  capital  out  of  his  surplus  earnings.  We  every 
where  see  capital  accumulating  in  connection  with  labor.  La 
bor  is  not  with  us,  as  the  theory  supposes,  the  mere  instrument 
of  capital,  the  mere  handmaid  to  furnish  the  profits  of  the  cap 
italist  ;  it  is,  on  the  contrary,  an  intelligent,  active  principle, 
the  partner  and  sharer  in  the  increase  of  wealth  produced  by 
the  united  action  of  both.  We  have  no  class  in  America  cor 
responding  with  the  operatives,  the  human  machines  of  Europe. 


DOMESTIC    INDUSTRY.  Ill 

We,  therefore,  totally  deny  the  correctness  of  the  position,  that 
"the  question  relates  exclusively  to  the  application  of  capital." 
We  deny  that  "  the  power  of  government  is  limited  to  its  trans 
fer  horn  one  employment  to  another,"  By  increasing  the  stim 
ulus  to  labor,  resulting  from  the  application  of  capital,  to  home 
production,  additional  capital  can  "  be  generated  by  an  act  of 
legislation."  It  is  said  that  this  system  "  oppresses  the  many 
for  the  benefit  of  the  few."  We,  on  the  contrary,  believe,  that 
while  it  benefits  all,  its  highest  recommendation  is  found  in  its 
beneficial  action  upon  the  many — the  laboring  classes,  the 
workingmen.  If  there  is  any  one  principle  in  political  econo 
my,  which  is  perfectly  well  established,  it  is,  that  the  profits  of 
capital,  employed  in  any  one  branch  of  industry,  cannot,  for 
any  length  of  time,  exceed  the  average  rate  in  other  employ 
ments  ;  it  being  the  constant  tendency  of  free  competition  to 
equalize  profits.  It  is,  therefore,  an  argument  altogether  falla 
cious,  to  suppose  that  this  system  favors  capital  devoted  to  one 
branch  of  business  more  than  that  devoted  to  another  ;  or  ben 
efits  any  one  class  of  individuals  to  the  prejudice  or  exclusion 
of  others. 

It  is  also  said,  that  "  it  is  equally  untrue  that  such  a  system 
gives  greater  employment  to  labor." 

We  dissent  from  this  doctrine,  and  are  fortified  by  the  opin 
ion  of  the  author  of"  The  Wealth  of  Nations,"  whose  language 
we  think  it  useful  to  quote ;  "  The  capital  of  the  manufact 
urer,"  says  this  writer,  "  puts  immediately  into  motion  a  much 
greater  quantity  of  productive  labor,  and  adds  a  much  greater 
value  to  the  land  and  labor  of  the  society,  than  an  equal  capi 
tal  in  the  hands  of  any  wholesale  merchant."  "After  agricul 
ture,  the  capital  employe*cl  in  manufactures  puts  into  motion  the 
greatest  quantity  of  productive  labor,  and  adds  the  greatest 
value  to  the  annual  produce.  That  which  is  employed  in  the 
trade  of  exportation  has  the  least  effect  of  any  of  the  three." 
"  The  capital  employed  in  the  home  trade  of  any  country  will 
generally  give  encouragement  and  support  to  a  greater  quanti  • 
ty  of  productive  labor,  in  that  country,  and  increase  the  valu-: 


112  POLITICAL    PAPERS. 

of  its  produce  more  than  an  equal  capital  employed  in  the  for 
eign  trade  of  consumption,  and  the  capital  employed  in  this 
latter  trade  has,  in  both  these  respects,  a  still  greater  advan 
tage  over  an  equal  capital  employed  in  the  carrying  trade." 
"  That  part  of  the  capital  of  any  country  which  is  employed  in 
the  carrying  trade  is  altogether  withdrawn  from  supporting  the 
productive  labor  of  that  particular  country  to  support  that  of 
some  foreign  countries." 

In  accordance  with  these  positions,  we  maintain  the  effi 
ciency  of  labor  to  add  to  the  power  and  riches  of  a  country, 
against  the  theories  of  later  writers  who  attribute  every  thing 
to  capital.  In  fact,  we  consider  it  the  most  important  and  val 
uable  feature  in  our  system,  that  it  tends  directly  to  increase 
the  effective  power  and  remuneration  of  labor,  thus  multiplying 
the  means,  the  comforts  and  enjoyments,  of  the  laboring  classes, 
and  raising  them  in  the  scale  of  civilization  and  social  life. 
This  political  effect  on  the  character  of  society  may  be  consid 
ered  its  highest  recommendation.  It  is  thus  made  to  give 
strength  and  permanency  to  our  free  institutions. 

The  peculiar  advantage  of  the  United  States  consists  in  the 
abundance  and  cheapness  of  fertile  lands,  affording  an  easy 
subsistence  and  high  remuneration  to  labor.  We  consider  the 
system  of  establishing  manufactures  and  the.  arts  among  us,  as 
distributing  and  equalizing  these  peculiar  advantages,  through 
all  the  departments  of  industry  and  through  all  classes  of  so 
ciety.  ' 

This  effect,  we  believe,  to  be  deducible  from  the  system, 
according  to  the  most  approved  principles  of  political  econo 
my.  But  we  consider  all  speculation  on  this  subject,  founded 
on  the  ultimate  tendencies  of  human  action  and  the  averages 
of  contending  principles,  as  very  uncertain  guides  in  legisla 
tion,  compared  to  the  surer  test  of  experience,  and  those  prac 
tical  results  which  are  obvious  to  the  senses. 

Mistaken  and  preposterous  assumptions  of  the  merits  of 
what  is  called  free  trade  have,  under  the  ever-active  delusion 
of  British  influence,  afforded  pretexts  latterly  to  the  opponents 


DOMESTIC    INDUSTRY.  113 

of  the  protective  system,  which  it  is  proper  to  dispel.  It  is  not 
long  since  no  one  believed  in  the  power  of  propelling  boats  by 
steam,  and  every  one  believed  that  the  British  debt  was  to  be 
paid  off  by  the  sinking  fund  ; — similar  mistakes  exist  as  to 
free  trade.  As  a  municipal  principle,  there  is  no  question  of 
the  great  advantages  of  free  trade.  The  United  States,  in 
their  coasting  trade  and  domestic  exchanges  afford  the  most 
striking  illustrations  of  them  ever  witnessed — but,  as  between 
foreign  nations,  there  is  no  free  trade — there  never  was — there 
never  can  be.  It  would  contravene  the  arrangements  of  Prov 
idence,  which  distribute  mankind  into  different  communi 
ties,  separated  originally  by  confusion  of  tongues,  and  pre 
vented  from  all  rushing  together  into  the  most  favored  lati 
tudes,  by  local  attachments  and  foreign  antipathies,  which  are 
the  germs  of  national  preservation,  by  means  of  national  emu 
lation. 

Much  of  the  suffering  which  it  is  alleged  is  felt  in  certain 
portions  of  the  United  States  (if  their  complaints  have,  in  fact, 
any  foundation)  it  is  to  be  attributed  to  the  very  circumstance 
that  they  are  placed  in  the  circle  of  twenty-four  common 
wealths,  enjoying  the  most  complete  freedom  of  trade,  the  op 
eration  of  which  has  been  to  expose  those  who  have  not  the 
inclination  to  employ  their  labor  to  the  full  extent  of  its  capa 
city,  to  the  severe  rivalry  of  more  industrious  and  thrifty  com 
munities,  living  under  the  protection  of  the  same  general  gov 
ernment. 

Nations  are  adversary  to  each  other  ;  their  commercial  in 
tercourse  is  regulated  by  treaties  always  made  with  a  view  to  rel 
ative  advantages,  and  to  provide  for  those  hostilities  which  are 
of  perpetual  recurrence.  The  vexatious  provincial  tariffs  which 
formerly  fettered  intercourse  and  almost  destroyed  traffic  in 
the  interior  of  nations,  suggested  the  idea  of  that  free  trade, 
which  has  since  been  misunderstood  and  egregiously  misap 
plied  by  mere  speculative  writers.  The  tariff  acts,  which  even 
now  impose  duties  on  the  wines  of  Spain  at  provincial  borders 
and  on  those  of  France  at  city  gates,  are  grievances,  for  which 


POLITICAL    PAPERS. 

free  trade  is  a  happy  substitute  ;  but  the  principle  is  entirely 
municipal  and  in  no  respect  applicable,  without  disadvantage, 
to  independent  nations.  The  vessels  of  the  United  States  are 
navigated  with  fewer  hands  and  make  their  voyages  in  shorter 
periods,  than  others ;  hence,  what  is  called  the  reciprocity  prin 
ciple,  originating  in  the  first  treaty  between  the  United  States 
and  France,  has  been  wisely  proffered  by  the  United  States  to 
many  other  nations,  because  it  is  supposed  that  our  navigation 
would  supplant  theirs.  But  the  artificial  systems  of  England, 
France,  Spain  and  the  other  nations  with  which  the  United  States 
have  most  intercourse,  render  it  extremely  improbable  that  any 
approximation  to  the  footing  of  free  trade  should  ever  be  ar 
ranged  between  them,  even  by  treaty.  For  us  to  attempt 
while  they  reject  it,  would  be  a  complete  surrender  of  our 
selves  as  a  voluntary  sacrifice  to  the  policy  and  cupidity  of  for 
eign  governments  ;  to  create  a  government  for  the  benefit  of 
others  and  not  for  ourselves.  A  tariff  of  duties  on  commerce 
between  New  York  and  New  Jersey  would  be  as  injurious  as 
unconstitutional.  Free  trade  between  these  States  and  among 
all  the  States  of  the  Union  is  the  main  spring  of  general  wel 
fare,  and  one  of  the  strongest  links  of  the  chain  that  connects 
them  ;  but  free  trade  between  New  York  and  Liverpool  would 
ruin  the  farmers  of  England  through  our  superabundant  bread- 
stuffs,  and  the  manufacturers  of  the  United  States  by  the  supe 
rior  capital  and  proficiency  of  England  in  manufactures,  and 
the  degraded  state  of  the  operatives.  An  unrestricted  inter 
course  between  two  nations  reduces  the  labor  of  one  to  the 
same  scale  of  compensation  with  the  labor  of  the  other,  and 
such  a  consequence  is  certainly  to  be  deprecated  by  that  na 
tion  whose  labor  stood  highest  on  the  scale.  This  considera 
tion  forms  a  striking  argument  against  the  policy  of  such  a 
system  between  foreign  States.  While,  on  the  other  hand,  it 
is  no  less  desirable  that,  among  the  separate  communities  as 
sociated  under  the  same  government,  this  reduction  of  the 
higher  labor  to  the  scale  of  the  lower  should  take  place,  inas 
much  as  the  interests  of  these  dome?  tic  communities  are  equally 


DOMESTIC    INDUSTRY.  115 

the  objects  of  the  protection  and  solicitude  of  their  common 
governors. 

The  freest  of  free  trade  is,  after  all,  but  a  chartered  liber 
tine.  The  United  States  could  not  share  their  coasting  trade 
with  England  without  disadvantage  : — the  most  extravagant 
advocates  of  free  trade  (it  is  believed)  have  never  yet  dreamed 
of  sharing  our  river  trade  with  foreigners.  To  throw  open  the 
Ohio  and  Mississippi,  the  Hudson  and  the  Delaware  to  British, 
French  and  Dutch  navigation,  would  be  of  no  advantage  to  our 
own.  England  could  not  open  her  maritime  coal  trade,  the 
great  nursery  of  her  seamen,  to  the  enterprise  of  New  England 
without  losing  at  least  one  half  of  it.  She  even  refuses  us  a 
passage  through  the  St.  Lawrence,  although  we  own  part  of 
that  river.  The  greatest  commercial  nations  of  the  middle 
ages,  the  Hanseatic  League,  and  Holland,  the  maritime  won 
der  of  the  world,  became  such  by  the  exclusive  enjoyment  of 
the  fisheries  and  the  trade  to  India  and  other  monopolies,  which 
they  maintained  at  the  charge  of  long  and  bloody  wars — Eng 
land  struck  the  vital  blow  at  Holland,  not  so  much  by  naval 
victories  as  by  her  navigation  act.  The  commercial  and  the 
military  marine  of  the  United  States  have  risen  to  eminence 
upon  similar  interdiction.  With  free  trade  we  should  have 
neither  the  one  or  the  other,  but  be  a  poor,  dependant,  pastor 
al  people.  It  is  only  about  ten  years  since  a  project  for  redu 
cing  the  duties  was  first  suggested  in  England,  in  a  petition  tc 
Parliament  from  the  merchants  and  traders  of  London  In 
1825  some  slight  and  cautious  reductions  were  accordingly 
made,  but  in  nothing  to  effect  the  commercial  monopoly  and 
maritime -ascendancy  of  Great  Britain.  Her  colonial  commerce 
is  mostly  exclusive.  The  freedom  of  the  trade  of  the  Susque- 
hanna  river  is  now  in  dispute  between  the  States  of  Maryland, 
Pennsylvania  and  New-York.  So  intractable  is  free  trade  in 
fact,  while  fruitful  of  speculation.  Within  a  few  years  Russia, 
misled  by  this  delusion,  and  Holland  under  the  influence  of 
England,  made  experiments  of  free  trade,  which  Russia  soon 
found  intolerable  and  abandoned,  and  which  has  contributed 


116  TOLITICAL    PAPERS. 

to  reducing  Holland  from  once  being  the  richest  nation  of  Eu 
rope  to  being  one  of  the  most  impoverished  and  indebted.  In 
fine,  the  dogmas  of  free  trade,  which  are  said  to  be  taught  in 
some  colleges,  may  serve  to  inflame  youthful  imaginations,  but, 
as  they  have  never  actuated  a  practical  statesman,  they  can 
never  mislead  any  well-informed  mind.  What  is  called  the 
American  System,  is  the  system  of  Europe  ;  is  the  universal 
system  ;  and  (if  the  experience  and  common  sense  of  mankind 
be  any  standard  of  right)  is  the  true  and  the  only  system  of 
intercourse  among  nations. 

It  is  doubtless  true,  that  during  the  last  half  century,  a  more 
enlightened  philosophy  has  been  applied  to  the  affairs  of  man 
kind  ;  that  political  economy  is  much  better  understood,  its 
principles  more  fully  developed,  and  more  judiciously  applied. 
The  sense  and  experience  of  men  had  gone  far  to  correct  the 
erroneous  legislation  of  former  times,  and  to  develope  and  mul 
tiply  the  true  sources  of  national  wealth.  But  the  modern  the 
ory  is  not  content  with  the  attainment  of  practical  benefits 
merely;  it  seeks,  by  an  unqualified  application  of  certain  gen 
eral  principles,  to  produce  a  thorough  revolution  in  the  busi 
ness  of  men  and  the  relations  of  nations.  It  is  against  these 
extremes  of  visionary  good  and  practical  mischief,  that  we  de 
sire  all  men  of  reflection  and  sober  judgment  to  make  a  stand. 
We  ask  them  to  look  at  the  present  condition  of  our  country 
and  to  examine  the  operation  of  the  present  system  upon  all 
its  great  interests.  Above  all,  we  ask  them  to  look  to  the 
practice  of  all  foreign  nations,  rather  than  to  the  speculations 
of  their  writers.  They  will  then  find  that  those  who  have 
taught  us  this  theory  of  free  trade,  are  too  wise  to  practise  it ; 
that  they  continue  to  act  and  to  legislate  upon  the  system  of 
protecting  their  own  industry,  though  some  of  their  writers  and 
orators  recommend  to  all  other  nations  to  abandon  it. 

A  reference  to  our  own  experience  is,  however,  the  best 
criterion  by  which  to  test  the  correctness  of  the  system  which 
we  support.  It  is  not  new  ;  the  principle  was  applied,  as 
we  have  already  stated,  to  our  navigation,  from  the  establish- 


DOMESTIC    INDUSTRY.  117 

ment  of  the  Federal  Constitution,  prohibiting  foreign  shipping 
from  the  coasting  trade  altogether,  and  imposing  a  high  dis~ 
criminating  duty  on  foreign  tonnage.      If  this  discrimination 
has  been  abandoned,  in  respect  to  those  nations  who  would 
consent  to  a  system  of  reciprocity,  it  involves  no  surrender  of 
the  principle.    Trade  can  only  be  carried  on  between  nations  by 
mutual  agreement ;  and  mutual  protection  leads  to  reciprocity 
as  the  only  equitable  arrangement.     The  mechanic  arts  have 
also  been  the  subject  of  protection  from  the  establishment  of 
the  government;  and  it  cannot  be  doubted  that  to  this  circum 
stance  they  owe,  in  a  great  measure,  their  success ;  a  success 
which  has  made  the  mechanics  of  the  United  States  one  of  the 
main  pillars  of  our  national  strength.     Agriculture  has  like 
wise  had  a  full  share  of  the  benefit  of  this  protection  ;  and  in 
truth  it  may  be  said,  that  as  our  Government  commenced  its 
career  with  the  establishment  of  the  germs  of  the  protective 
system,  so  it  has  continued  ever  since,  gradually  nurturing  and 
invigorating  them  until  they  have  reached  their  present  growth. 
Some  interruptions  have  occurred  in  the  march  of  this  policy, 
but  these  interruptions  owe  their  origin  to  accidental  circum 
stances  which  dictated  the  necessity  of  relaxing  the  system  for 
the  benefit  of  other  interests  that  were  more  immediately  con 
cerned  in  availing  themselves  of  the  advantages  of  foreign  trade. 
These,  however,  are  to  be  regarded  not  as  proofs  of  the  use- 
lessness  of  the  system,  but  as  exceptions  growing  out  of  the 
pressure  of  temporary  accidents.     The  events  that  followed  the 
French  revolution  gave  a  new  and  unexpected  direction  to  the 
enterprise  of  our  citizens.     The  disturbed  state  of  the  conti 
nent  of  Europe,  and  the  prevalence  of  universal  wars  through 
out  the  nations  of  that  quarter  of  the  globe,  placed  the  United 
States  in  the  position  of  the  only  neutral  among  many  bellig 
erents,  and  so  obviously  opened  the  way  to  commercial  wealth 
to  our  citizens,  that  all  other  interests  sank  into  insignificance 
compared  with  those  which  were  concerned  in  pushing  a  for 
eign  commerce  into  every  region  where  the  strife  of  the  con 
tending  parties  excluded  the  competition  of  the  belligerents 


118  POLITICAL    TAPERS. 

themselves,  and  left  to  the  United  States  the  undisputed  mo 
nopoly  of  trade.  To  this  fortunate  conjuncture  of  circumstan 
ces  is  to  be  ascribed  the  most  rapid  growth  that  has  ever  been 
traced  in  the  history  of  any  empire.  The  United  States  not 
only  became  the  medium  of  the  commerce  of  the  world,  but 
their  peaceful  position  attracted  the  emigration  of  all  those 
who  had  the  means  and  the  wish  to  escape  from  European 
troubles. 

Among  the  advantages  which  have  resulted  to  us  from 
this  state  of  things  we  have  suffered  one  evil,  the  effect  of  which 
is  not  obliterated,  even  at  this  day.  Accustomed  for  twelve  or 
fourteen  years  to  commercial  speculations  of  unparalleled  activ 
ity  and  success,  we  were  taught  to  think  that  our  national  pros 
perity  was  inseparably  connected  with  the  prosecution  of  that 
kind  of  trade  in  which  our  citizens  had  been  engaged,  and  we 
were  thus  insensibly  educated  in  the  opinion  that  the  great  in 
terests  of  our  commonwealth  would  be  always  concerned  with 
a  foreign  commerce  exclusively  employed  in  transporting  abroad 
the  products  of  our  agriculture  and  receiving  returns  in  the 
manufactured  commodities  of  other  nations. 

There  was  another  circumstance  that  gave  great  authority 
to  this  delusion.  The  cotton  manufacture  of  Great  Britain 
was  rapidly  arising  into  the  greatest  activity  and  vigor.  It 
was  in  process  of  time  discovered  that  the  raw  material  for 
this  manufacture  could  be  produced  in  the  United  States 
under  more  favorable  circumstances  than  in  any  other  part 
of  the  world.  At  first,  but  two  or  three  of  our  States  were 
employed  in  the  cultivation,  and  the  demand  from  England 
was  even  greater  than  the  supply.  The  profits  of  this  cultiva 
tion,  therefore,  were  almost  unlimited.  The  portions  of  ter 
ritory  employed  in  the  growing  of  cotton  were  small,  and  the 
common  opinion  was  that  but  few  districts,  in  comparison 
with  the  great  extent  of  our  surface,  could  be  appropriated  to 
the  culture.  In  the  mean  time,  the  cotton  fabrics  were  diffused 
over  Europe  and  took  the  place  of  large  quantities  of  those 
manufactured  from  wool,  silk  and  flax.  Every  year  demon- 


DOMESTIC    INDUSTRY.  119 

strated  the  increasing  importance  of  this  manufacture  both  in 
Europe  and  America,  and  the  demand  still  continued  to  out 
run  the  supply.  These  circumstances  had  their  influence  in 
impressing  upon  our  citizens  an  exaggerated  idea  of  the  per 
manence  and  value  of  this  source  of  agricultural  wealth,  and, 
along  with  it,  the  value  of  the  trade  which  was  concerned  in 
the  transportation  of  it.  It  persuaded  our  planters  to  believe 
that  they  possessed  an  almost  inexhaustible  source  of  riches  : 
it  unfitted  them  for  sober  calculations  upon  the  effects  that 
would  follow  the  extension  of  the  culture  of  cotton  over  the 
fertile  regions  that  yet  lay  in  wilderness  behind  them  :  and  it 
equally  disinclined  them  to  foresee  the  possibility  of  the 
manufacture  itself  reaching  a  term  at  which  it  might  become 
stationary  and  which  was,  therefore,  eventually  to  set  a  limit 
upon  the  demand,  at  the  very  period  when  the  supply  would 
be  increased  in  an  almost  infinite  ratio  by  the  spread  of  popu 
lation  over  other  States  of  our  union,  even  more  propitious 
than  their  own  to  the  production  of  the  plant.  It  may,  there 
fore,  be  considered  a  misfortune,  consequent  upon  their  former 
prosperity,  that  our  citizens  were  almost  irresistibly  led  by  it 
into  delusive  estimates  of  the  true  and  permanent  sources  of 
national  wealth.  It  was  one  result  of  this  state  of  things 
that,  while  our  countrymen  were  intent  upon  gathering  the 
harvest  which  the  distracted  condition  of  the  world  had 
strewn  before  them,  they  were  unmindful  of  the  future  and 
neglected  to  treasure  up  the  elements  of  strength  and  pros 
perity  which  lay  hidden  in  the  bosom  of  the  nation  ;  and 
which,  as  they  were  independent  of  foreign  legislation  or  ex 
ternal  accidents,  were  most  likely  to  furnish  the  means  of  a 
stable  and  enduring  happiness. 

Troubles  soon  afterwards  broke  out  at  home.  A  war 
threatened  and  our  citizens  were  suddenly  called  to  meet  a 
tremendous  emergency.  Our  commerce  was  put  in  fetters  by 
non-importation  acts  and  embargoes  ;  and  the  crisis  that  suc 
ceeded  found  us  without  the  most  ordinary  resources  of  an 
independent  people.  Our  armies  went  to  the  frontier  clothed 


120  POLITICAL  TAPERS. 

in  the  fabrics  of  the  enemy  ;  our  munitions  of  war  were 
gathered  as  chance  supplied  them  from  the  four  quarters  of 
the  earth  ;  and  the  whole  struggle  was  marked  by  the  prodi 
gality,  waste  and  privation  of  a  thriftless  nation,  taken  at 
unawares  and  challenged  to  a  contest  without  the  necessary 
armor  of  a  combatant. 

When  it  pleased  Heaven  to  rescue  us  from  the  imminent 
hazard  of  this  doubtful  and  disproportioned  conflict,  we  saw 
around  us  a  nation  of  eight  millions  of  people  possessed  of  a 
territory  nearly  equal  to  the  continent  of  Europe,  rich  in  the 
ungathered  resources  of  every  kind  of  wealth, — just  emerging 
from  a  war  of  two  years  and  a  half,  with  an  enemy  who  had 
never  assembled  an  army  of  more  than  thirty  thousand  men 
— and  yet  deranged  in  all  its  channels  of  industry,  exhausted, 
and  on  the  verge  of  bankruptcy.  Nothing  but  the  most  per 
verse  neglect  of  the  fundamental  precepts  connected  with  the 
proper  administration  of  the  concerns  of  a  commonwealth 
could  have  produced  such  a  result ! 

These  disasters  opened  our  eyes  to  some  important  facts. 
They  demonstrated  to  us  the  necessity  of  extending  more 
efficient  protection,  at  least,  to  those  manufactures  which  were 
essential  to  the  defence  of  the  nation.  They  proved  to  us  the 
value  of  a  national  currency,  and  the  duty  of  protecting  it 
from  the  influence  of  foreign  disturbance  :  and  among  other 
things  of  equal  moment,  they  made  us  acquainted  with  the 
fact  that  the  British  manufacturers  could  find  a  large  and,  if 
necessary,  a  complete  supply  of  cotton  from  other  soils  than 
our  own. 

All  these  matters  came  into  review  before  Congress  at  the 
close  of  the  war.  A  proper  occasion  for  their  discussion 
arose  when  the  question  was  submitted  as  to  the  reduction 
of  the  war  duties.  The  return  of  peace  made  it  necessary 
for  the  legislature  to  take  off  the  taxes  that  had  been  imposed 
for  defraying  the  expenses  of  the  war  ;  and  in  this  reduction 
of  duties  to  what  it  was  considered  should  be  a  permanent 
standard,  the  cotton-planting  interest  urged  with  great  force 


DOMESTIC    INIH'STKV.  121 

and  propriety,  the  necessity  of  retaining  such  a  duty  as  should 
exclude  from  the  American  market  all  fabrics  made  from  the 
cotton  of  the  East  Indies.  It  was  an  anomaly  apparent  to 
every  citizen  of  the  United  States,  that  our  Government,  pos 
sessing  so  many  facilities  for  supplying  Europe  with  cotton, 
should,  nevertheless,  allow  a  trade  that  threw  in  upon  us  vast 
quantities  of  cotton  cloth  produced  at  a  distance  of  ten  thou 
sand  miles  ;  that  our  most  common  household  supplies  should 
be  furnished  from  such  a  quarter.  Nothing  was  more  gener 
ally  acknowledged  than  the  duty  of  the  Government  to  pro 
tect  the  cotton  grower  against  such  a  competition  ;  and  this 
argument  was  addressed  to  the  nation  by  the  cotton-growing 
States,  even  with  the  conviction,  at  that  time  prevalent  among 
themselves,  that  its  success  would  be  to  give  them  what  may 
be  termed  a  species  of  monopoly  in  the  supply. 

The  duty  was  retained  ;  and  it  is  important  to  know  that, 
being  designed  for  the  protection  of  the  cotton  grower,  it  was 
graduated  to  a  scale  precisely  adequate  to  that  purpose.  His 
interest  required  the  exclusion  of  the  East  India  fabric,  but 
was  supposed  to  be  hostile  to  the  attempt  of  the  American 
citizen  to  manufacture  the  material ;  the  duty,  therefore,  was 
adapted  to  the  first  purpose,  but  not  to  the  latter.  It  ban 
ished  the  foreign  manufacture : — it  did  not  protect  the  home  ; 
— being  thus  accurately  adjusted  to  the  wants  and  wishes  of 
the  planting  interest,  without  professing  to  serve  any  other. 

This  placed  our  commerce  upon  the  most  favorable  footing 
for  the  cotton  grower  that  could  be  desired  ;  and  the  nation, 
having  thus  performed  its  duty  to  this  valuable  interest,  turned 
its  attention  to  other  branches  of  industry. 

The  Tariff  of  i8l6,  it  may  be  remarked,  was  a  measure 
that  met  the  approbation  of  the  large  majority  of  the  people 
in  every  section  of  the  Union.  No  partial  nor  local  consider 
ations  were  embodied  against  the  operation  of  either  its  prin 
ciples  or  policy.  .  The  southern  States  were  even  more  for 
ward  than  their  northern  confederates  in  recommending  the 
policy  and  defending  it  in  the  councils  of  the  nation.  By  this 
6 


122  POLITICAL    PAPERS. 

tariff  various  manufactures  were  attempted  to  be  established 
in  the  United  States.  The  want  of  skill  and  capital  exposed 
these  infant  institutions  to  a  fierce  and  vindictive  competition 
from  the  manufacturers  of  Great  Britain  ;  and,  in  three  years, 
almost  every  capitalist  who  had  ventured  into  this  field  of 
enterprise  was  broken  up,  The  heavy  loss  and  distress  that 
visited  this  endeavor  to  establish  manufactures  subsequently 
urged  the  subject  of  more  extended  protection  upon  Congress, 
and  the  result,  after  various  struggles,  close  and  elaborate 
inquiry  and  careful  attention  to  the  expanding  means  of  the 
country,  was  the  establishment  of  a  vigorous  system,  which 
has  diffused  health  and  strength  into  the  industry  of  the 
nation,  and  added  to  the  wealth  of  every  class  of  the  com 
munity. 

We  ask  attention  to  another  topic.  Revulsions  in  trade 
are  unavoidable  :  the  balance  of  supply  and  demand  cannot 
always  be  regulated  with  precision.  There  is  a  tendency, 
growing  out  of  a  prosperous  commerce,  to  push  success  to  an 
extreme  which  produces  reaction.  To  these  periods  of  em 
barrassment,  of  general  stagnation,  and  severe  pressure  for 
money,  the  United  States  have  been  peculiarly  subject.  We 
attribute  this,  in  a  great  measure,  to  our  having  depended,  in 
so  great  a  degree  for  our  manufactures,  upon  the  nations  of 
Europe.  Importation  is  induced  more  frequently  by  the  neces 
sity  or  hope  of  the  manufacturer  to  find  a  market,  than  by 
actual  reference  to  the  wants  or  means  of  the  country.  A 
reduction  in  the  prices  of  exports,  following  an  excessive  im 
portation,  causes  a  state  of  exchange  which  leads  to  an  expor 
tation  of  specie  ;  the  moment  this  exportation  touches  that 
portion  of  the  precious  metals  necessary  to  sustain  the  money 
circulation,  the  operations  of  the  banks  become  embarrassed, 
and  distress  and  dismay  are  spread  through  all  classes  of  the 
community. 

We  believe  that  the  system  which  furnishes  a  nation  with 
manufactures,  essential  to  its  daily  wants,  from  its  own  in 
dustry,  is  the  best  possible  security  against  violent  changes  in 


DOMESTIC    INDUSTRY.  123 

its  currency  : — changes  which  paralyze  all  industry,  and  dis 
turb  all  trade  ;  and  we  therefore  submit  it  to  the  experience 
and  judgment  of  the  American  people  whether  the  protective 
system  is  not,  in  this  particular,  more  advantageous  to  the 
country  than  that  which,  after  deluging  our  markets  with  for 
eign  manufactures,  draws  from  us,  in  return,  not  a  useless 
commodity,,  but  the  instrument  by  which  our  exchanges  are 
performed,  the  very  basis  of  our  bank  circulation,  the  essential 
principle  of  commercial  confidence. 

Mistaken  opinions  in  regard  to  the  effect  of  the  tariff  upon 
the  prices  of  commodities  used  in  the  United  States  and  upon 
which  the  protective  system  has  been  brought  to  bear,  have 
furnished  some  popular  objections  against  the  wisdom  of  the 
policy.  It  has  been  said  that  the  effect  of  a  duty  is  necessarily 
to  increase  the  price  of  any  article  upon  which  it  is  laid  to  the 
full  amount  of  the  tax.  It  would  be  easy  to  show,  by  a  minute 
survey  of  the  whole  field  of  American  industry,  that,  so  far 
from  this  being  true,  the  invariable  operation  of  the  tariff  has 
been  to  lower  the  price  to  the  consumer  of  every  article  that 
has  been  successfully  manufactured  under  the  protection. 
Such  a  survey  would  require  more  detail  than  the  purpose  of 
this  address  allows,  but  we  propose  to  examine  the  operation 
of  the  tariff  upon  some  of  our  most  important  staples. 

In  the  article  of  cotton  it  is  admitted  that  our  manufacture 
has  arrived  at  such  perfection  in  the  production  of  the  coarse 
fabrics,  that  they  are  not  only  furnished  at  little  more  than  one- 
half  of  the  cost  which  the  imported  articles  of  the  same  kind 
bore  a  few  years  ago,  but  they  are  produced  as  cheaply  at  the 
present  time  as  our  foreign  rivals,  under  all  the  excitements 
of  American  competition,  are  able  to  furnish  them.  They 
have  had  a  constant  and  increasing  demand  for  several  years 
for  exportation  as  well  as  for  home  consumption.  None  but 
the  finer  qualities  are  now  imported,  which  are  little,  if  at  all 
affected  by  the  minimum  duty.  The  price  of  raw  cotton  has 
fallen  but  about  a  cent  a  pound  within  the  last  four  years, 
while  the  price  of  cotton  goods — of  sheetings,  for  instance, 


I 


- 


: 


- 
-- 

:  .  .-. 
- 


DOMESTIC    INDUSTRY.  125 

recommended  prohibitory  duties  in  favor  of  the  manufacturers 
of  this  article:  ufor,"  says  that  report,  "they  are  entitled  to 
preeminent  rank.  None  are  more  essential  in  their  kinds, 
none  so  extensive  in  their  uses.  They  constitute,  in  whole  or 
in  part,  the  implements  or  the  materials,  or  both,  of  almost 
every  useful  occupation.  Their  instrumentality  is  everywhere 
conspicuous.  It  is  fortunate  for  the  United  States  that  they 
have  peculiar  advantages,  for  deriving  the  full  benefit,  of  this 
most  valuable  material,  and  they  have  every  motive  to  improve 
it  with  systematic  care.  It  is  to  be  found  in  various  parts  of 
the  United  States  in  great  abundance,  and  of  almost  every 
quality  ;  and  fuel,  the  chief  instrument  in  manufacturing  it,  is 
both  cheap  and  plenty."  This  report,  which  is  a  treatise  on 
Political  Economy,  at  least  equal  to  any  thing  that  has  appear 
ed  since  its  publication,  states  that  the  average  price  of  iron 
before  the  revolution,  was  about  sixty-four  dollars  per  ton,  and 
that  at  the  time  of  that  report  it  was  about  eighty  dollars. 
Soon  after  it  appears  to  have  risen  to  ninety-five  dollars,  and 
in  1814  was  as  high  as  one  hundred  and  fifty  dollars.  After 
the  ineffectual  Tariff  of  1818,  which  ruined  numbers,  induced 
by  its  vain  protection  to  make  investments  in  the  manufacture 
of  iron,  it  rose  from  ninety  to  one  hundred  and  five  dollars  per 
ton.  Under  the  influence  of  the  duties  of  the  acts  of  1824  and 
1828,  it  has  declined  to  its  present  prices  of  from  seventy-five 
to  eighty-five  dollars  per  ton,  and  there  is  every  reason  for  the 
confident  belief  entertained,  that  if  our  own  market  be  protect 
ed  against  the  formidable  and  incessant  endeavors  of  the 
British  manufacturers  to  control  it,  the  price  of  iron  will,  be 
fore  long,  decline  to  from  fifty  to  sixty  dollars  per  ton.  Such 
is  the  irrefutable  proof  of  all  recent  experience.  Cut  nails, 
which  in  1816  sold  for  twelve  cents  per  pound,  are  now  sold  for 
less  than  half  that  sum,  under  the  permanent  security  of  five 
cents  per  pound,  which  has  given  our  manufacturers  their  own 
market.  "  The  United  States  (says  Hamilton's  report  before 
mentioned)  already  in  great  measure  supply  themselves  with 
nails.  About  one  million  eight  hundred  thousand  pounds  of 


126  POLITICAL*  PAPERS. 

nails  and  spikes  were  imported  into  the  United  States,  in  the 
course  of  the  year  ending  the  4th  of  September  1790.  A  duty 
of  two  cents  per  pound,  would,  it  is  presumable,  speedily  put  an 
end  to  so  considerable  an  importation.  And  it  is  in  every 
view  proper  that  an  end  should  be  put  to  it. 

Bar  iron,  which  sold  at  Pittsburg  in  1829  at  $122,  sells 
there  now  at  $95.  Castings,  which  were  $63,  are  now  $50  per 
ton.  Such  are  the  practical  results,  proving  the  operation  of 
the  tariffs  on  the  market  for  iron.  The  duty,  by  the  law  of 
1816,  was  so  inadequate  as  to  cause  nothing  but  ruin  to  those 
concerned,  and  enhancement  of  price  to  the  consumer.  The 
act  of  1818  was  some  amelioration  ;  the  acts  of  1824  and  1828, 
which  increased  the  duty,  decreased  the  price.  Hammered 
bar  iron,  under  a  duty  of  twenty-two  dollars  and  forty  cents  a 
ton,  is  at  a  lower  price  than  when  under  a  duty  of  nine  dollars 
a  ton,  and  improved  in  quality  from  five  to  ten  per  cent,  by 
the  greater  care  and  skill  which  more  extensive  investment  has 
naturally  created  under  more  certain  protection.  The  efforts 
of  the  English  manufacturers  to  destroy  the  American  manu 
facture  of  iron,  and  possess  themselves  of  our  market,  have 
occasioned  extensive  bankruptcies  among  them  in  England, 
and  reduced  the  price  of  iron  considerably  below  the  cost  oi 
manufacture;  insomuch  that  a  convention  of  iron  manufactur 
ers,  recently  held  there,  resolved  to  reduce  the  quantity  made 
twenty  per  cent,  throughout  the  United  Kingdoms.  With  the 
control  of  our  market  they  would  infallibly  regulate  both  the 
price  and  the  quantity  of  the  iron  in  this  country — thirty-one 
establishments  of  which  have  appeared  in  Western  Pennsyl 
vania  alone,  since  the  last  Tariff  act. 

The  influence  of  protection  upon  wool,  while  it  has  been 
most  beneficial  upon  the  farming  States,  has  had  no  tendency, 
that  we  are  aware  of,  to  injure  the  plantation  States.  The 
number  of  sheep  in  the  United  States  is  computed  at  about 
twenty  millions  ;  and  their  increase  at  about  five  millions  since 
the  act  of  1828,  which  gave  a  great  impulse  to  the  stock.  The 
farmers  of  Virginia,  Pennsylvania,  Ohio,  New  York,  and  the 


DOMESTIC    INDUSTRY.  127 

other  wool-growing  States,  have  an  interest  in  this  national 
property,  taken  at  fifty-five  cents  per  pound,  nearly  equal  to 
the  capital  of  the  plantation  States  in  the  cotton  crop  of  this 
year,  reckoning  it  at  thirty  millions  of  dollars.  There  is  no 
doubt  that,  within  three  years  to  come,  the  farming  capital  in 
wool  will  be  more  valuable  than  the  plantation  capital  in  cot 
ton.  Without  protecting  duties  American  wool  would  be  re 
duced  one-half  in  quantity  and  in  price.  The  large  flocks 
which  now  cover  the  immense  and  inexhaustible  pastures  of 
the  United  States,  most  of  them  more  or  less  of  the  fine  Span 
ish  breeds,  must  be  again  slaughtered,  as  has  been  heretofore 
the  case,  for  want  of  due  protection,  and  this  great  capital  in 
fleece  sacrificed  to  that  of  cotton  with  enormous  loss  to  one 
interest,  and  with  no  possible  advantage  to  the  other.  For, 
like  every  thing  else,  woollen  goods  have  fallen  from  twenty  to 
twenty-five  per  cent,  since  the  last  tariff.  The  immediate  effect 
of  that  act,  by  calling  a  large  number  of  additional  clothiers 
into  active  enterprise,  was  to  cause  a  decline  in  prices  ruinous 
to  many  of  those  before  engaged  in  the  occupation.  .Under 
the  influence  of  the  improvement  in  the  price  of  wool,  woollen 
manufacturers  have  rallied  again,  but,  at  least  as  respects 
them,  the  charge  of  monopolizing  prices  is  a  cruel  mockery. 
The  advantages  of  the  Tariff,  in  its  operation  upon  wool,  have 
thus  far  been  confined  almost  exclusively  to  the  farming  in 
terest  ;  the  manufacturers  have  yet  all  their  way  to  win,  and 
the  effect  of  that  competition,  which  is  the  result  of  protection, 
cannot  be  known  until  it  has  had  longer  time  for  operation. 

The  finest  cotton  and  woollen  manufactures  are  not  yet 
much  made  in  the  United  States,  but  we  may  assert,  without 
fear  of  contradiction,  that  nine-tenths  of  the  American  people, 
who  do  not  affect  foreign  luxuries  and  fashions,  may  be  clothed 
with  woollen,  cotton,  fur  and  leather  fabrics  of  their  own 
country,  better  and  cheaper,  than  either  could  have  been  ob 
tained  abroad  if  the  tariff  had  never  been  enacted.  The  great 
est  mistakes  prevail  in  this  respect ;  it  is  continually  said  that 
hats,  coats,  boots  and  other  articles  of  dress  are  dearer  here 


128  POLITICAL    PAPERS. 

than  elsewhere.  Such  is  not  the  case  with  all  those  who  are 
independent  of  foreign  fashions.  Those  who  enjoy  superior 
wealth  and  study  superior  elegance,  are  at  liberty  to  gratify 
their  caprice,  at  that  additional  expense,  which  such  a  gratifi 
cation  costs  in  all  countries,  in  none  more  than  in  Great 
Britain,  where  the  opulent  and  noble  are  in  the  habit  of  pay 
ing  more  extravagantly  for  French,  Asiatic  and  other  luxuries, 
than  some  of  our  opulent  citizens  choose  to  pay,  in  like  man 
ner,  for  luxuries  imported  from  abroad. 

While  we  assert  that  it  has  been  the  effect  of  the  protective 
system  to  benefit  the  consumers  by  giving  them  manufactures 
cheaper  than  they  had  them  before,  we  are  willing  to  admit 
that  prices  have  had  a  correspondent  fall  in  the  same  articles 
abroad ;  but  this  fall  of  price  abroad  has  been  the  result  of 
the  competition  of  American  labor.  It  is  impossible  to  advert 
to  the  fact  that  the  United  States  export  to  foreign  markets 
six  times  the  quantity  of  domestic  manufactures  that  they  ex 
ported  in  1820,  and  at  present  furnish  incomparably  the  largest 
share  of  the  home  demand,  without  perceiving  the  tendency 
of  such  a  competition  to  reduce  the  price  of  the  same  articles 
among  all  those  nations  who  aim  at  supplying  us. 

But  we  hold  it  to  be  a  common  error  to  consider  the  com 
parative  cheapness  of  the  foreign  and  domestic  commodity  a 
test  of  the  value  of  the  system.  Even  if  it  were  true  that  the 
domestic  product  were  not  reduced  in  price,  and  were  to  be 
procured  only  at  a  higher  cost  than  the  foreign,  still  the  benefit 
of  the  system  would  be  found  in  the  fact  that  it  enables  the 
domestic  consumer  to  afford  the  higher  price  for  the  manufac 
ture,  and  thereby  to  furnish  himself  on  better  terms  than  he 
could  have  done  when  obliged  to  depend  upon  the  foreign  im 
ported  commodity,  that,  in  other  words,  the  increase  of  price, 
if  it  has  taken  place,  cannot  be  called  a  tax  upon  the  con 
sumer,  if  the  same  system  which  has  increased  the  price  has 
also  increased  his  means  of  paying  it.  That  this  increased 
ability  to  pay  has  occurred  to  a  most  beneficial  extent,  is  evident 
in  the  invigorated  condition  of  our  agriculture  in  the  last  three 


DOMESTIC    INDUSTRY.  129 

or  four  years,  during  which  period  the  value  of  the  labor  of  the 
farmer,  and  with  it  the  value  of  his  land,  it  is  well  known,  has 
risen  some  twenty  or  thirty  per  cent.  This  augmentation  in 
the  value  of  agricultural  labor  and  capital  can  be  ascribed  to 
no  other  cause  than  to  the  increase  of  the  manufacturing  class 
es,  and  to  the  rapid  growth  of  our  home  market  under  the 
protective  system.  During  this  period  there  have  been  no 
wars  to  create  a  demand  abroad  for  our  grain,  but  on  the  con 
trary,  all  the  producing  nations  have  been  exerting  their  in 
dustry  to  the  utmost,  and  maintaining  a  rivalry  against  our 
own  citizens  which  would  have  visited  them  with  the  most  dis 
astrous  consequences  if  they  had  not  found  a  steady  and  val 
uable  market  at  home.  The  fact,  too,  that  agricultural  pro 
ducts  have  risen  while  manufactured  goods  have  fallen,  furnish 
the  best  proofs  that  the  fall  of  prices  are  to  be  mainly  attrib 
utable  to  the  competition  of  domestic  labor. 

The  loudest  complaints  of  oppression  proceed  from  the 
South,  particularly  from  South  Carolina ;  but  that  these  com 
plaints  are  not  owing  to  the  tariff  acts,  is  unquestionably  proved 
by  the  fact,  that  their  public  press,  their  memorials  to  Con 
gress,  and  other  mediums  of  complaint,  were  as  much  bur 
dened  with  them  before  those  acts,  as  they  have  been  since. 
In  the  acquisition  of  the  extensive  and  fertile  territories  an 
nexed  to  the  United  States  by  the  purchase  of  Louisiana,  the 
lands  and  property  of  the  plantation  States  could  not  fail  to  be 
depreciated,  by  a  vast  accession  of  lands,  at  least  as  fertile,  for 
all  similar  purposes.  But  it  is  inconceivable  how  a  steady 
market  for  at  least  two  hundred  thousand  bales  of  cotton  a 
year,  liable  to  no  fluctuation  from  foreign  influence,  can  be  in 
jurious  to  the  cotton-growing  States  ;  and,  certainly,  if  the  in 
habitants  of  the  less  exuberant  and  more  industrious  latitudes 
of  the  central  and  eastern  States,  were  not,  from  the  influence 
of  climate,  or  some  other  cause,  less  liable  to  excitement  and 
less  addicted  to  complain  than  their  southern  brethren,  they 
have  had  much  greater  cause  for  it. 

The  article  of  sugar  is  a  production  of  the  planting  States 
6* 


130  POLITICAL    PAPERS. 

receiving  the  full  benefit  of  the  protecting  system.  If  any  ap 
plication  of  the  system  operate  as  a  tax  on  consumption,  it 
would  apply  to  the  duty  on  sugar.  It  is  true,  the  cotton  plant 
ers  of  South  Carolina  will  not  admit  that  protection  to  the 
cultivation  of  sugar  is  any  offset  to  their  own  fancied  oppres 
sions  ;  but  it  is  apparent  that  the  lands  and  capital,  devoted  to 
the  cultivation  of  the  sugar  cane,  are  so  much  of  both  with 
drawn  from  the  cultivation  of  cotton,  relieving  that  culture 
from  the  effect  of  over  production,  the  only  evil  which  it  has 
any  reason  to  fear. 

The  breadstuffs,  lumber,  and  nearly  all  the  other  staples  of 
all  the  grain-growing  States  are  excluded  from  European  mar 
kets  by  prohibitory  duties.  While  the  export  of  cotton  has  quad 
rupled,  that  of  breadstuffs  has  diminished  in  a  much  greater 
ratio  with  relation  to  the  population  of  the  States  that  produce 
them.  If,  instead  of  spending  their  time  in  unavailing  com 
plaints,  they  had  not  conformed  to  circumstances,  and  turned 
their  attention  to  manufactures,  their  grievances  would  have 
been  infinitely  greater  than  any  of  which  the  southern  States 
have  ever  complained.  Nothing  could  relieve  the  farming  in 
terests  of  the  middle  States  but  their  own  manufactures  and 
the  manufactures  of  the  eastern  States.  They  alone  supply 
that  market  which  Europe  denies.  In  addition  to  the  incal 
culable  consumption  of  breadstuffs  by  the  manufacturers  of 
the  grain-growing  States,  what  is  equivalent  to  a  million  of 
barrels  of  their  breadstuffs  is  imported  every  year  into  the 
eastern  States ;  a  relief,  without  which  the  susceptibility  of 
these  States  would  have  been  tried  to  a  degree  of  endurance 
far  beyond  that  exacted  from  their  brethern  of  the  south.  It 
cannot  escape  observation,  that  while  their  sufferings  are 
announced  in  most  eloquent  language,  and  in  unintermit- 
ting  remonstrance,  yet  there  has  been  so  little  specifica 
tion  of  the  supposed  causes,  that  it  is  denied  by  many,  among 
themselves,  that  they  suffer  at  all.  There  is  even  good  rea 
son  to  believe,  that  within  the  last  five  years  the  interest  on 
planting  capital  has  been  more  productive  to  the  owner,  than 


DOMESTIC    INDUSTRY.  131 

the  interest  on  the  same  amount  of  capital  employed  in  man 
ufactures. 

The  States  of  New  York,  Pennsylvania  and  Ohio  invested 
a  capital  of  enormous  amount,  which  may  be  reckoned  as  at 
least  fifty  millions,  within  the  last  ten  years,  in  what  are  called 
internal  improvements,  canals,  railways,  and  other  facilities  of 
transportation.  This  capital  depends  entirely  upon  domestic 
industry  for  its  fruits.  It  would  be  a  dead  loss  to  the  four 
millions  of  people  who  have  expended  it,  and  might  as  well  be 
abandoned  at  once,  without  the  protected  products  of  domestic 
industry  for  its  returns.  Foreign  commerce  can  yield  it  little 
or  no  service  ;  and  to  destroy  those  guards  which  secure  to  it 
the  home  market,  would  be  to  render  it  altogether  a  useless 
expenditure.  Foreign  commerce  would  in  this  way  lose  also 
one  of  its  most  productive  resources. 

In  -our  review  of  the  operation  of  the  tariff  upon  the  various 
interests  of  the  several  States,  it  must  never  be  lost  sight  of, 
that  the  one-fifth  of  the  cotton  crop  which  is  consumed  at 
home,  for  which  we  may  estimate  the  sum  paid  at  six  millions 
of  dollars,  is,  in  the  course  of  a  very  short  time,  worked  up  by 
manufacture  to  at  least  thirty  millions  of  dollars,  which  is  the 
worth  of  the  raw  material  wrought  into  the  various  articles 
produced  by  manipulation  :  thus  one-fifth  of  the  crop  of  cotton 
manufactured  becomes  as  valuable  as  the  whole  cotton  crop, 
in  the  short  space  of  six  months  after  its  purchase ;  and  in  the 
mean  time  diffuses  competency  and  comfort  among  large  num 
bers  of  the  laboring  classes  of  the  community. 

The  policy  of  the  protective  system  is  amply  and  happily 
illustrated  in  the  growth  and  prosperity  of  the  United  States. 
The  Union  teems  with  proof  of  its  wisdom.  All  that  Hamil 
ton's  masterly  report  predicted  of  its  benefits,  has  been  un 
folded  and  is  progressive  beyond  the  most  sanguine  anticipa 
tion.  All  the  objections  refuted  in  his  argument  have  disap 
peared  in  experience.  The  antagonist  of  the  system  not  long 
since  declared  that  it  would  infallibly  diminish,  if  not  destroy 
the  revenue,  and  compel  a  resort  to  loans  and  taxes  for  the 


POLITIC  AT,    PAPERS. 

support  of  Government :  their  present  complaint  is  that  the 
revenue  is  excessive.  Redundant  importations,  some  years 
ago,  imposed  the  necessity  of  a  loan  ;  the  manufacturing  estab 
lishments  now  spreading  throughout  the  United  States,  sustain 
their  agriculture,  have  revived  their  commerce,  have  vastly  in 
creased  their  coasting  trade  and  domestic  exchanges,  and 
have  mainly  contributed  to  an  abundance  of  the  precious  metals ; 
they  are  the  stablest  pledges  of  independence  and  permanent 
peace,  and  the  most  accessible  objects  of  taxation  and  produc 
tive  resources  in  case  of  need.  It  was  said  that  hidi  duties 

O 

would  demoralize  the  commercial  character  of  the  United 
States,  and  the  evils  of  smuggling  are  still  insisted  on  and  de 
picted  in  the  most  prominent  colors.  We  know  of  no  smug 
gling  ;  nor  do  we  believe  that  it  exists  to  any  considerable  ex 
tent.  It  is  true,  frauds  have  been  practised  upon  the  revenue 
laws  to  a  degree  that  demands  the  notice  of  Government ;  but 
we  are  happy  to  have  this  opportunity  to  bear  testimony  to 
the  high  and  honorable  character  of  our  merchants,  and  to  say 
that  where  frauds  have  been  discovered  they  have  had  their 
origin  with  those  who  are  alien  to  our  clime,  our  laws,  and  all 
the  considerations  connected  with  our  welfare.  They  are  frauds 
that  effect,  comparatively,  but  a  small  portion  of  that  vast 
amount  of  labor  that  owes  its  support  to  -the  protective  sys 
tem. 

It  was  affirmed  that  this  system  would  undermine  commerce 
and  ruin  navigation  ;  but  they  flourish  and  prosper  beyond  all 
expectation.  It  was  to  create  a  moneyed  aristocracy  :  if  aristoc 
racy  be  possible  with  our  institutions,  it  certainly  has  not 
found  an  abiding-place  among  manufacturers.  It  was  to  inflict 
a  class  of  paupers  upon  our  population  :  no  such  class  exists 
among  the  industrious.  It  is  still  denounced  as  taxing  the 
many  for  the  benefit  of  the  few  :  but  the  many,  with  the  power 
in  their  hands  to  change  it,  are  its  sturdy  friends  and  support 
ers,  proving  that  they,  at  least,  deem  themselves  gainers  by  the 
system  ;  while  the  few,  on  the  other  hand,  never  cease  to  tell 
us  of  the  grievance  of  being  subject  to  the  majority. 


DOMESTIC    INDUSTRY.  133 

A  rapid  increase  of  population,  dwellings,  culture,  of  the 
comforts  of  life  and  of  the  value  of  property,  wherever  manu 
factures  prevail,  bespeak  their  capacity  to  diffuse  happiness  and 
wealth.  The  new  industry  that  has  been  brought  into  existence 
has  induced  the  consumption  of  increased  amounts  of  the  pro 
ductions  of  the  land,  and  has  added  to  the  prosperity  of  every 
class  of  agriculturists.  During  the  last  six  years  ;  under  the 
benefit  of  protection,  four  hundred  sugar  plantations  have  been 
added  to  the  three  hundred  previously  existing  in  the  State  of 
Louisiana,  which  now  supplies  two-thirds  of  the  demand  of  the 
whole  Union.  In  the  mean  time,  the  price  has  been  continually 
falling,  and  there  is  every  reason  to  believe  that,  within  a  short 
period,  besides  furnishing  the  home  market,  our  planters  will 
have  a  surplus  for  exportation. 

Our  warehouses,  workshops,  and  stores,  abound  with  excel 
lent  and  elegant  wares  of  American  fabrication,  almost  exclud 
ing  those  from  abroad.  Silver  and  plated-ware,  the  richest 
glassware,  porcelain,  household  furniture  and  pleasure  carri 
ages,  every  article  of  woollen  and  cotton  clothing,  copper,  brass 
and  tin  wares,  hardwares,  arms  of  all  sorts,  saddlery,  and  every 
thing  else  made  of  leather,  drugs,  paints  and  oils,  tools,  uten 
sils,  and  implements  of  all  sorts,  every  kind  of  machinery,  from 
the  smallest  instrument  of  cutlery  to  a  steam  engine  ;  nearly 
every  thing  that  can  be  made  of  wood,  iron,  wool,  cotton,  glass, 
furs,  the  precious  metals,  whatever  ministers  to  comfort,  and 
most  of  the  luxuries  ;  all  the  substantial  and  ornamental  means 
of  habitation,  subsistence,  transportation  by  land  and  wate^ 
clothing  and  defence,  are  to  be  seen  in  every  street,  of  every 
town,  in  every  stage  of  process  and  transition,  from  the  raw 
materials,,  which  are  abundant  and  excellent,  to  the  removal  of 
the  finished  article  to  distant  places  of  purchase.  The  princi 
ple  commerce  among  the  several  States  of  the  Union  is  em 
ployed  in  the  transportation  of  domestic  manufactures,  and 
managed  by  domestic  exchanges,  which  have  increased  above 
all  computation  within  the  last  few  years.  They  insure  domes 
tic  tranquillity,  provide  for  the  common  defence,  and  promote 


134  POLITICAL    PAPKKP. 

the  general  welfare,  by  bonds  stronger  than  any  political  ties  ; 
infinitely  stronger  than  armies  or  navies.  Protection  to  these 
resources  is,  as  it  were,  the  Providence  of  our  political  being, 
ever  guarding  the  industrious  citizen,  while  adding  to  the  na 
tion's  wealth.  Without  that  Providence  not  a  laborer,  not  an 
artisan,  whatever  his  calling,  but  would  be  straightened  and 
brought  to  ruin.  Distress  would  be  intense  and  universal. 
Stop  the  loom  and  the  plough  would  work  in  vain ;  the  ship 
would  be  unfreighted,  and  universal  stagnation  would  succeed 
to  the  present  healthful  activity  of  our  land.  Is  there  an 
American  who  would  raise  his  ruthless  hand  against  the  sys 
tem  which  prevents  such  a  calamity  ?  who  would  recolonize  his 
country  from  an  unnatural  disgust  for  its  own  productions,  and 
morbid  preference  for  those  of  Europe  ?  who  would  bow  be 
fore  the  woolsack  of  England,  but  spurn  the  golden  fleece  of 
his  own  soil. 

Aversion  to  manufactures  has  engendered,  of  late,  bitter 
local  prejudices  in  parts  of  those  States  in  which  they  do  not 
flourish.  Not  long  ago  their  promotion  was  in  universal 
favor.  When  the  venerable  survivor  of  the  framers  of  the 
Constitution  took  the  oath  of  fidelity  to  it,  on  commencing  his 
illustrious  presidency,  the  whole  nation  thought  that  he  proved 
his  patriotism  by  being  clothed  in  a  suit  of  American  broad 
cloth.  To  doubt  the  constitutionality  of  protecting  manu 
factures  was  not  then  conceived.  Even  to  question  the  policy 
of  promoting  them  was  limited  to  very  few.  The  statesmen 
and  the  patriots  of  the  south  were  among  the  foremost  to  vin 
dicate  both. 

The  general  pacification  of  1815  exposed  our  market  to 
the  overwhelming  force  of  English  capital  and  skill,  with  more 
fearful  odds  than  we  had  to  contend  against  in  the  hostilities 
then  closed  with  Great  Britain.  The  inflexibility  of  her 
restrictive  system,  and  the  exuberant  resources  of  our  own 
country  for  manufactures,  alone  enabled  us  to  withstand  the 
great  influx  of  her  fabrics,  and  constrained  us  to  protect  our 
market  by  that  system  which  has  led  to  our  present  pros- 


DOMESTIC    INDUSTRY.  135 

perity.  Is  it  the  cotton-growing  States  who  would  subvert 
this  prosperity  and  lay  us  once  more  prostrate  before  the 
power  of  our  rival  ?  Those  States  who,  for  the  article  of  cot 
ton,  enjoyed  a  duty  which  did  not  merely  promote,  but  abso 
lutely  created 'its  culture  ?  a  tax  upon  all  the  other  States,  which 
was  represented  as  a  grievance  by  the  report  of  the  Secretary 
of  the  Treasury  in  the  very  infancy  of  our  Government  ?  a  tax 
which  diverted  labor  and  capital  into  new  channels  for  the 
exclusive  benefit  of  those  States,  at  the  expense  of  all  the 
rest  ?  a  tax  which  had  not  the  remotest  connection  with  the 
revenues  of  the  country,  but  was  imposed  merely  for  protec 
tion  ?  Is  it,  above  all  others,  the  State  of  South  Carolina  that 
can  complain  of  a  protective  impost,  while  she  enjoys  a  heavy 
duty  on  indigo,  which  she  has  ceased  to  produce,  and  which 
therefore  all  the  manufacturing  States  pay  under  circumstances 
aggravated  by  the  fact  that  while  they  are  obliged  to  submit 
to  this  tax  on  an  article  indispensable  to  their  manufactures, 
the  very  State  for  whose  benefit  it  was  imposed,  declines  to 
cultivate  the  article  ? 

By  a  special  resolution  of  this  convention,  an  inquiry  was  di 
rected  into  the  moral  influence  of  our  manufactures  ;  in  com 
pliance  with  which  we  feel  authorized  to  say,  in  a  word,  that 
the  imputations  sometimes  cast  upon  the  morals  of  manufac 
turing  communities  have  proved,  according  to  the  experience 
of  this  country,  to  be  without  the  slightest  foundation.  On 
the  contrary,  it  is  believed  that  the  moral  and  religious  educa 
tion  of  those  employed  in  manufactures  is,  at  least,  equal,  if 
not  superior,  to  that  of  other  classes  of  the  community. 

In  concluding  this  address  we  would  take  occasion  to  ob 
serve  that  the  present  posture  of  the  affairs  of  the  United  States 
impress  upon  us  the  necessity  of  declaring  what  we  believe  to 
be  the  sentiment  of  the  friends  of  American  industry,  in  ref 
erence  to  a  great  question  which  must,  in  a  short  time,  occupy 
the  attention  of  Congress.  Up  to  this  period,  the  revenue  of 
the  Government  has  not  exceeded  its  wants.  The  debt  has 
required  a  system  of  duties  that  would  supply  at  least  ten 


136  POLITICAL    PAPERS. 

millions  of  dollars  every  year  towards  its  extinguishment. 
That  debt,  under  the  present  course  of  liquidation,  will  soon  cease 
to  exist.  The  nation  will  then  naturally  expect  some  reduc 
tion  of  duties.  Participating  in  the  common  feeling  on  this 
subject,  we  cannot  close  this  address  without  respectfully  sub 
mitting  to  public  consideration  the  expediency  of  applying 
that  reduction  to  such  commodities  as  are  incapable  of  being 
brought  within  the  scope  of  the  protective  system  ;  holding 
it,  as  we  do,  to  be  indispensable  to  the  best  interests  of  the 
American  people  that  that  system  should  be  sustained  and 
preserved,  without  diminution,  in  its  application  to  every 
branch  of  domestic  industry  that  may  be  benefited  by  its  in 
fluence. 

Thus,  fellow-citizens,  we  have  submitted  to  your  considera 
tion  our  views  of  the  construction  of  the  Constitution  upon 
the  great  question  of  protection.  If  it  be  the  true  one,  you 
will  sanction  and  sustain  it  :  if  it  be  otherwise,  let  it  be  re 
jected  ;  for  the  Constitution  is  the  supreme  law. 

We  have  also  submitted  our  view  of  the  true  policy  of  this 
country.  We  have  stated  and  urged  those  principles,  on 
which  the  system  of  protection  rests,  which  we  believe  to  be 
supported  by  the  maxims  of  a  sound  philosophy,  the  experience 
of  mankind  and  our  own.  It  remains  with  you  to  deter 
mine,  whether  that  system  of  protecting  your  own  industry, 
under  which  you  have  long  advanced  and  are  now  prospering, 
shall  be  continued  or  abandoned  ;  whether  you  will  hold  fast 
to  that  which  your  experience  has  proved  to  be  good,  or  yield 
yourselves  the  victims  of  rash  and  untried  theory.  That 
nearly  five  hundred  of  your  fellow-citizens  should  convene, 
from  sections  of  the  country  more  than  five  hundred  miles 
apart,  to  consult  on  these  engrossing  subjects,  is  itself  an 
argument  of  the  deep  solicitude  felt  by  the  country  at  large  in 
their  discussion.  To  have  separated  without  vindicating  them, 
would  have  been  a  desertion  of  the  trust  committed  to  us. 
Their  importance  required  that  fulness  of  consideration  which 
an  enlightened  and  reflecting  people  have  a  right  to  demand.  It 


DOMESTIC    INDUSTRY.  137 

has  been  our  study  to  adhere  to  the  utmost  accuracy  in  our 
statement  of  facts,  and  to  exercise  the  most  perfect  candor  in 
our  arguments.  We  therefore  invite  the  strictest  scrutiny  to 
what  u »  thus  submit ;  while  we  are  sensible  that,  with  the  ad 
vantage  of  more  time  than  the  session  of  the  convention  has 
afforded,  it  might  have  been  presented  in  a  more  finished 
form.  Deeply  impressed  with  the  gravity  of  the  subject  and 
the  momentous  aspect  of  our  national  concerns,  we  trust  that 
our  language  has  never  departed  from  that  tone  of  conciliation 
which  becomes  citizens  of  the  same  country  differing  from 
their  brethren  upon  great  questions  of  national  policy. 

But  let  us  bear  constantly  in  mind  that  the  union,  the  hap 
piness,  the  peace  and  the  power  of  our  beloved  country  depend 
on  its  domestic  industry,  without  which  these  United  States 
would  cease  to  be  an  independent  nation. 

Let  those  who  acknowledge  this  great  bond  of  union  never 
forget  that  "  united  we  stand  and  divided  we  fall ;"  that  sugar, 
and  iron,  hemp  and  lead,  wool  and  cotton,  and  the  other  pro 
ductions  of  our  diversified  soil,  elaborated  by  our  own  indefat 
igable  industry,  and  protected  by  our  own  free  government, 
are,  in  effect,  the  government  that  holds  us  together,  and  make 
us  one  people  ;  that  the  home  market  is  the  palladium  of  home 
itself  in  all  its  most  endearing  and  ennobling  political  and 
social  relations,  without  which  we  have  no  common  country, 
but  should  be  reduced  to  the  condition  of  dismembered  and 
defenceless  provinces.  Let  it  therefore  be  the  instinct  of  all 
who  acknowledge  its  cause  as  their  own,  to  stand  together, 
like  the  fathers  of  the  revolution  ;  with  no  local  jealousy,  no 
impolitic  preference  of  one  part  of  our  system  to  another,  but 
maintaining  a  united  and  inflexible  adherence  to  the  whole. 

Spontaneous  conventions,  like  the  present,  originated  our 
glorious  revolution  and  our  admirable  Constitution.  May  the 
Almighty  Power  that  presided  over  their  deliberations,  and 
that  has  never  yet  failed  to  guard  these  United  States,  shed 
the  gracious  influence  of  his  protection  upon  our  labors. 


138  POLITICAL    PAPERS. 


STRICTURES 

ON  THE  LETTER  OF  CHARLES  J.  INGERSOLL,  ESQ.,  TOUCHING 
THE  RIGHT  OF  A  LEGISLATURE  TO  REPEAL  A  CHARTER. 
WITH  AN  APPENDIX,  CONTAINING  THE  LETTERS  OF  MR. 
INGERSOLL,  OF  MR.  DALLAS,  OF  MR.  FORWARD,  AND  OF 
MR.  BIDDLE,  IN  ILLUSTRATION  OF  THE  SUBJECT  DISCUSSED. 


"  I  aver  that  at  this  moment  there  is  as  sacred  a  regard  for  prop 
erty,  as  inviolable  a  security  to  all  the  rights  of  individuals,  lower 
taxes,  fewer  grievances,  less  to  deplore,  and  more  to  admire,  in  the 
Constitution  of  America,  than  that  of  any  other  country  under 
heaven." — Erskine's  Speech  on  Paine's  Trial. 

To  the  General  Assembly  of  Maryland,  the  Convention  of  Pennsylvania,  and 
the  Legislatures  of  the  several  States  of  this  Union,  these  strictures  are  respect 
fully  inscribed  by  the  author.— DEDICATION. 


SIR  : — You  have  been  elected  a  delegate  to  the  Convention 
of  Pennsylvania,  to  "  propose  amendments  to  the  Consti 
tution"  of  that  State  ;  and  from  a  desire  to  obtain,  in  advance, 
an  exposition  of  "  your  views  on  the  general  powers  of  the 
Convention,  and  particularly  with  reference  to  the  United 
States  Bank,  and  the  question  of  vested  rights,"  you  have  been 
publicly  invited,  by  certain  members  of  your  legislature,  to 
communicate  your  opinions  to  the  world. 

Obedient  to  this  call,  you  have  furnished  a  full,  and  I  have 
no  doubt,  a  candid  statement  of  the  principles  by  which  you 
are  to  be  guided  in  the  performance  of  the  momentous  duty, 
committed  to  you  by  your  constituents,  as  a  member  of  the 
Convention. 

The  doctrines  you  have  attempted  to  ma'ntain  in  this  let 
ter,  are  interesting  to  every  State  in  the  Union,  and  to  every 


REPLY    TO    IXGERSOLL.  139 

citizen  of  the  States.  They  concern  the  integrity  of  American 
institutions,  and  have  an  important  relation  to  the  most  solemn 
obligations  of  national  faith.  For  I  do  not  scruple  to  say,  if 
these  doctrines  are  adopted  and  sustained  in  the  great  com 
monwealth  of  Pennsylvania,  the  credit  of  every  State  in  the 
Union  will  be  more  or  less  shaken  and  disparaged  in  the  judg 
ment  of  all  other  nations.  That  sure  reliance  upon  the  plight 
ed  faith  of  the  American  republics,  which  has  heretofore 
been  cherished  as  a  sentiment  of  honor  which  it  would  be  in 
sult  to  question,  will  be  abandoned  as  a  deceitful  illusion,  and 
our  States  and  citizens  will  be  subjected  to  the  same  humiliat 
ing  suspicions  in  their  dealings  with  foreign  communities,  the 
same  precautions  against  fraud  and  treachery,  which  mark  the 
negotiations  of  the  many  petty  powers  whose  tricks  of  policy 
have  rendered  them  the  objects  of  universal  distrust  and  con 
tempt. 

Still,  although  convinced  that  even  so  important  an  issue 
as  this  has  been  presented  by  you  to  the  consideration  of 
American  citizens,  I  should  not  have  deemed  that  a  sufficient 
motive  for  troubling  the  public  with  my  reflections  in  answer 
to  your  letter.  I  should  have  confided  the  task  of  disabusing 
the  public  mind  on  these  topics,  to  the  many  judicious  thinkers 
and  enlightened  patriots  which  your  own  State  and  city  supply ; 
and  with  yet  more  content  I  should  have  confided  it  to  the 
wholesome  sense  of  justice  which  I  feel  assured  will  predomi 
nate  in  the  Convention  itself,  to  rescue  the  fame  of  Pennsyl 
vania  from  the  blot  which  you  would  rashly  fix  upon  it.  But 
I  have  another  motive,  more  domestic  in  its  nature,  for  no 
ticing  your  letter.  I  cannot  be  blind  to  the  fact,  that  your 
opinions  on  this  great  question  are  not  the  opinions  of  an  iso 
lated  individual :  they  are  not  the  vagaries  of  one  eccentric 
mind,  nor  engendered  in  the  fantasy  of  a  lonely  visionary  :  no, 
nor  are  they  destined  to  flash  with  a  sudden  glare,  and  then 
become  extinct  without  communicating  their  fire  to  any  sur 
rounding  object.  They  were,  before  you  announced  them, 
already  set  down  as  the  principles  of  a  party,  the  tenets  of  a 


140  POLITICAL    PAPERS. 

sect ;  and  they  are  likely  henceforth  to  be  professed  by  an 
obsequious  troop  of  disciples.  I  do  not  know  to  what  apostle 
the  honor  of  this  new  creed  is  to  be  ascribed,  in  what  name  it 
is  to  be  glorified, — whether  of  Matthias  or  Mormon,  of  Joanna 
Southcote  or  the  prophet  of  unknown  tongues, — but  I  do 
know  that  it  has  its  sectaries,  its  Koran  and  its  priests  in 
Maryland  ;  and  that  is  my  apology  to  the  public  for  this  com 
ment  upon  your  letter. 

That  letter  is  dated  the  24th  of  November.  It  followed 
one  of  similar  import,  though  less  startling  in  its  assumptions, 
written  by  a  leader  of  authority,  in  your  city,  and  published 
in  July  last.  In  the  interval  between  these  two,  a  revolution 
was  attempted  in  Maryland,  founded  on  the  assertion  of  con 
genial  doctrines.  That  revolution  has  been  merely  ridiculous. 
Its  authors  have  worn  their  cap  and  bells  for  a  brief  space, 
have  played  through  their  shallow  harlequinade,  and  have 
been  summarily  consigned,  at  length,  by  the  mercy  of  their 
fellow-citizens,  to  the  moderate  punishment  of  total  insignifi 
cance.  They  differ  from  you  in  the  circumstance  that  they 
had  not  the  talent  to  do  harm.  In  the  last  stage  of  this  farce, 
a  mock,  convention  was  held  on  the  i6th  of  November,  in  the 
city  of  Baltimore,  and  here,  for  the  first  time,  the  revolutionists 
of  Maryland  caught  at  the  great  doctrine  for  which  you  are 
contending.  Among  their  resolves,  they  insist  upon  the  ab 
rogation  of  the  old,  and  the  establishment  of  a  new  constitu 
tion  of  Maryland,  which,  they  assert,  a  mere  numerical  majority 
is  competent  to  achieve  ;  and  as  one  of  the  predominating 
features  in  the  new  constitution,  they  require  "  a  limitation  and 
restraint  on  the  powers  of  the  legislature  in  the  future  grant 
of  charters." 

This  Convention,  it  is  true,  did  not  define  what  the  limita 
tion  and  restraint  on  charters  were  to  be ;  but  the  public  of 
Maryland  wanted  no  clue  to  their  determinations  on  that  point, 
after  the  publication  of  Mr.  Dallas's  letter,  which  was  received 
with  abundant  tokens  of  gratulation  by  the  reformers  and  the 
organ  of  their  opinions  in  this  State. 


REPLY    TO    INGERSOLL.  14:1 

I  have  no  difficulty  in  assuring  you  that,  with  some  laudable 
exceptions  in  the  persons  of  a  few  well-informed  gentlemen, 
you  and  Mr.  Dallas  have  many  very  loud,  if  not  very  intelligent 
followers  among  the  new-fashioned  and  exclusive  reformers 
of  Maryland,  and  that  these  men  will  do  their  best,  if  they  are 
ever  furnished  a  theatre  for  such  an  exploit,  to  saddle  this  State 
with  every  enormity  of  radicalism  which  has  been  broached, 
either  by  yourself  or  your  co-laborer  in  the  field.  Therefore, 
it  is  that  I  write. 

As  I  propose  to  examine  the  leading  doctrines  of  your 
argument,  and  am  anxious  to  do  you  full  justice  by  attributing 
to  you  no  more  than  you  have  said  or  designed  to  infer  in 
your  letter,  I  shall  endeavor  to  avoid  mistake  on  this  score  by 
quoting  your  words,  as  far  as  that  may  be  practicable,  without 
too  large  a  drain  upon  the  patience  of  my  readers. 

Your  proposition  or  theme  is  that  bank  charters,  and  above 
all,  that  the  charter  of  the  Bank  of  the  United  States,  granted 
last  year  by  the  State  of  Pennsylvania,  "  may  be  repealed  by 
act  of  assembly;"  "and  such  act  will  not  be  contrary  to  the 
Constitution  of  the  United  States." 

This  doctrine  has,  at  least,  the  merit  of  being  new.  I  ven 
ture  to  affirm,  that  not  a  reflecting  man  in  the  United  States 
has  read  this  proposition  without  being  conscious  of  some 
emotion  of  surprise.  To  many  men,  in  the  present  unhappy 
influence  of  party,  this  surprise  has  been  a  compound  of 
pleasant  feelings,  derived,  in  part,  from  the  satisfaction  of  a 
dawning  hope  that  Pennsylvania  will  yet  succeed  in  strangling 
"  the  monster " — and,  in  part,  from  seeing  your  name  at  the 
foot  of  the  letter  which  announces  it ;  for  they  will  remember — 
indeed  they  will  see  it  in  some  of  the  recent  daily  papers, — 
that  on  the  24th  of  February,  1831,  you  offered,  in  the  legis 
lature  of  Pennsylvania,  the  first  resolution,  I  believe,  in  this 
nation,  for  the  renewal  of  the  charter  of  the  late  Bank  of  the 
United  States,  in  which  you  declared  "  that  half  a  century's 
experience  sanctions  a  bank  of  the  United  States  as  necessary 
and  proper  to  regulate  the  value  of  money,  and  prevent  paper 


M2  POLITICAL    PAPEE3. 

currency  of  unequal  and  depreciated  value ;"  and  they  will,  at 
such  a  crisis  as  the  present,  rejoice  at  your  revolt,  and  the 
good  fortune  which  has  brought  you  into  the  Convention,  with 
your  now  avowed  sentiments.  Many  men,  and  among  these 
will  be  found  some  of  your  old  friends  and  associates,  will 
experience  a  still  greater  surprise,  but  it  will  be  mingled  with 
regret  at  the  defection  from  the  principles  which  have  rendered 
our  country  prosperous,  of  one  from  whom  they  were  accus 
tomed  to  expect  better  things. 

The  argument  you  have  offered  to  sustain  your  proposition 
may  be  analytically  stated,  as  resting  upon  the  truth  of  the 
following  dogmas,  which,  with  a  view  to  reference,  and  perspi 
cacity,  I  have  numbered  according  to  the  succession  in  which 
you  have  presented  them. 

1.  "That  the  legislature  is  empowered  to  resume  a  bank 
charter  without  judicial  proceeding  or  interposition,  or  any 
charge  of  misconduct  in  the  bank,  whenever  the  public  good  re 
quires  it" 

2.  That  by  such  resumption  "no  property  is  disturbed,  no 
vested  interest  divested." 

3.  That  a  bank  charter  is  merely  "  a  privilege   conferred 
on    a   few  individuals,   in   derogation  of  common   right"    and 
"  may  and  should  be  revoked  whenever  its  public  inconvenience 
is  acknowledged." 

4.  That  this  right  to  repeal  a  charter  of  a  banking  cor 
poration,  is  not  restrained  or  forbidden  by  that  clause  of  the 
Federal  Constitution  which  prohibits  a  State  from  passing  any 
law  impairing  the  obligation  of  contracts. 

5.  That  "  a  bank  charter  is  a  grant  of  privilege  and  not 
property"' 

6.  That  a  grant  of  privilege,  being  in   derogation  of  com 
mon   right,  may  be  resumed  without  impairing  any  right   of 
contract. 

7.  That  "  it  is  giving  at  least  force  enough  to  the  constitu 
tional  interdict  when  it  is  construed  to  prevent  laws  impairing 
the  obligation  of  contracts,  not  only  between  individuals,  but 


REPLY    TO    INGERSOLL.  143 

also  some  laws  deemed  contracts  between  States  and  individuals 
such  as  direct  grants  of  lands" 

8.  "  That  personal  rights,  the  rights  of  individual  property, 
and  laws  concerning  them  are   those  alone  contemplated  by 
the  Constitution." 

9.  That  "there  is  no  obligation  on  a  State  not  to  resume  a 
privilege  granted  in  derogation  of  common  right." 

10.  "  That  the  Constitution  was  not  made  for  privileges, 
and,  in  the  sense  of  the  Constitution,  there  is  no  contract  or  ob 
ligation  when  the  object  is  privilege.'1'' 

11.  That  "  when  a  bonus  is  paid,  it  is  the   price  of  privi 
lege,   and  therefore,  perhaps,  restoration   of  the  bonus    must 
accompany  resumption  of  the  charter.     But  it  does  not  follow 
that  even  if  there  is  a  species  of  contract  so  far  as  respects  the 
bonus,  that  the  State  is  incapacitated  from  resuming  the  privi 
lege,  on  refunding  the  bonus." 

12.  That  "if  it  should   not  refund  the  bonus,  the  law  of 
revocation  would  only  so  far  impair  the  obligation   of   the 
contract." 

13.  That  although  in  the  case  of  the  Providence  Bank,  C. 
J.  Marshall   seemingly  treats   a  bank  charter  as  a  contract, 
yet  that  the  decision  in  that  case,  which  establishes  the  right 
of  a  State  to  tax  a  bank,  demonstrates  that  a  bank  charter  is 
not  a  contract,  inasmuch   as  it  is  against  reason   that  a  State 
may  destroy  such  a  charter,  indirectly  through  the  taxing  power, 
while  it  is  forbidden  to  repeal  the  charter  by  its  direct  action 
through  a  law  to  that  end.     And  that,  in  fact,  the  practical 
exercise  of  the  power  to  regulate  banks  by  suppressing  small 
notes,   as   it  is  universally   adopted   throughout   the    United 
States,  is  inconsistent  with  a  denial  of  the  right  of  total  sup 
pression. 

14.  That  the  adjudications  of  the  Supreme  Court, — in  the 
New  Jersey,  the  Virginia,  and   Dartmouth   College  cases, — 
(the  prominent  and  leading  decisions  on  the  clause  of  the  Con 
stitution  in  question)  related  to  grants  of  lands,  and  therefore 
do   not  touch  the  case  of  bank  charters.     And  that  these  de- 


POLITICAL    PAPERS. 

cisions,   were,  moreover,   imperfect,   being  but  partially  con 
sidered,  little  argued,  and  unadvisedly  made. 

15.  That  the  construction  of  this   clause  of  the  Constitu 
tion  by  Luther  Martin  and  Mr.  Madison,  repels   the   interpre 
tation  put  upon  it  by  the   Supreme    Court,  and  confines  its 
operation   to    contracts   relating   to    "personal    security   and 
private  rights"  and  "  obviously  excludes  from  it  all  incorporated 
privileges  and  special  immunity"     And  this  being  "contempo 
raneous  commentary  or  historical  recollection,  is   of  more  re 
liance  than  literal  interpretation." 

1 6.  That  without  reference  to  the  constitutional  prohibition 
"  against  laws  impairing  the  obligation  of  contracts,  and  look 
ing  to  the  reason  of  things,  the  United  States  Bank  does  not 
hold  its  charter  by  contract  in  the  sense  of  that  clause." 

17.  That   the  late  Bank  of  the  United  States  was  a  public 
corporation — and  has  been  so   determined   by  the  Supreme 
Court  in  the  Maryland  case,  and  in  the  case  of  the  taxing  law 
of  Ohio — and,  being  a  public  corporation,  its  charter  was,  con 
sistently  with  the  distinction  taken  in  the  Dartmouth  College 
case,  at  all  times  liable  to  the  action  of  the  Federal  legislature. 

1 8.  That  the  present  Bank  of  the  United   States  incor 
porated  by  Pennsylvania,  is  equally  a  public  corporation,  and, 
therefore,  is  in  the  same  degree  obnoxious  to  the  action  of  the 
State  legislature. 

19.  That  "if  the  Federal  judiciary  may  bind  the  State  ir 
revocably  and  immutably  to  such  a  contract,  Pennsylvania  is  no 
longer  a  State.     All   the   attributes   of  sovereignty  are  gone. 
The  laws  of  the  State  are  subject  to  the  by-laws  of  the  Bank  ; 
and  whether  a  canal  boat   shall  ply,  or  a  child  be   educated 
depends  not  on  the  resources  or  laws  of  the  State,  but  on  the 
income  or  dividends  of  the  bank" — the  State  of  Pennsylvania 
having  devoted  a  part  of  the  bonus  to  these  objects. 

20.  Finally,  you  insinuate  some    doubts,  which  you  call 
"  reasons  of  a  more   abstract  character,"  whether  any  legisla 
ture  has  power  "  to  devolve  upon  twenty  private  assignees,  for 
thirty  years,  the  great  public  trusts  annually  recurring  of  sup- 


REPLY   TO    INGERSOLL.  145 

plying  the  income,  supporting  the  schools  and  furthering  the 
internal  improvements  of  the  State  :"  and  also 

"  Whether  any  legislatures  are  under  the  obligations  of 
contracts,  but  such  as  make  them. 

You  charge  upon  the  banks  of  the  country  a  whole  Iliad 
of  evils,  denominating  them  "  the  outlaw  barons  of  the  day, 
with  numerous  united,  well-informed  and  unscrupulous  re 
tainers  :"  and  with  all  their  mischievous  propensities  and 
iniquitous  doings,  of  which  your  catalogue  is  not  scant,  you 
attribute  to  them  privileges  and  special  immunities  which  you 
describe  as  "levers  that  move  the  world."  You  argue  that 
"  to  extinguish  such  privileges  cannot  divest  vested  rights,  or 
right  of  any  kind,"  and  that  to  secure  "  property  from  such 
depredations  on  it,"  should  not  "  be  regarded  otherwise  than 
with  satisfaction  by  all  those  who  are  anxious  for  the  security 
of  property." 

I  think,  upon  a  careful  revision  of  this  summar}*  of  your 
argument,  you  will  confess  that  I  have  represented  it  with 
fidelity,  and  given  it  all  the  advantages  which  a  repetition  of 
your  own  words,  and  your  own  method  of  collocation  of  its 
predominant  points  can  confer  upon  it :  that  I  have  been  fair, 
full,  and  even  literal  in  this  marshalling  of  your  opinions. 

In.  looking  back  upon  these  twenty  propositions,  dogmas, 
postulates,  principles,  or  whatever  else  you  may  choose  to  call 
them — in  quo  no?nine  gaudent — I  can  lay  my  hand  upon  my 
heart,  and  with  as  upright  a  conviction  as  has  ever  broken 
out  in  word  or  feeling  against  any  heresy  in  conflict  with  the 
radical  truths  of  the  faith  religious,  political  or  moral,  in  which 
I  was  born,  educated  or  have*  lived,  I  can  say  that  I  do  not 
assent  to  any  one  proposition  in  the  whole  list — but  hold  them, 
all  and  singular,  altogether  insufficient.  I  repudiate  them  as 
unsound  from  head  to  foot ;  as  contrary  to  the  simplest  prin 
ciples  of  policy,  good  faith  and  public  morals,  by  which  this 
nation  is  to  win  the  esteem  of  the  wise  and  the  virtuous  ;  as 
repugnant  to  the  earliest  inculcations  and  latest  experience  by 
which  my  judgment  has  been  guided  in  estimating  the  value 
7 


POLITICAL    TAPERS. 

of  republican  institutions,  or  by  which  my  heart  has  been 
strengthened  in  the  love  of  my  country.  That  is  a  broad  re 
nunciation.  I  wish  it  were  otherwise.  I  should  rejoice  to 
find  in  this  inventory  of  opinions  some  few — some  one — that 
might  give  you  the  benefit  of  even  an  islet  of  orthodoxy  to 
stand  upon  in  this  waste  of  heresy  and  schism.  I  should 
then  congratulate  you  upon  that  small  green  spot,  where  sun 
shine  might  fall  upon  your  mind  and  let  in  the  light  of  heaven. 

To  sustain  the  first,  second  and  third  of  the  above  propo 
sitions,  you  have  begun  by  presenting  us  with  an  outline  of  the 
debate  in  the  legislature  of  Pennsylvania,  on  the  bill  for  the 
renewal  of  the  charter  of  The  Bank  of  North  America,  in  the 
year  1786.  The  views  of  the  opponents  of  the  bank,  as  you 
have  exhibited  them,  you  describe  as  "  resting  on  principles 
of  right  and  illustrated  by  arguments,  a  departure  from  which 
since,  has  been  the  source  of  great  evil  to  the  commonwealth  :" 
and  you  remark  of  them  further,  that  it  is  impossible  to  read 
them  "  without  being  struck  by  the  wisdom  and  foresight  of 
the  forefathers  of  republicanism." 

I  think  your  eulogy  upon  these  "  views"  is  greatly  dispro- 
portioned  to  their  deserts.  If  you  have  represented  them 
faithfully,  they  strike  me  as  singularly  deficient  in  the  chief 
qualities  which  should  entitle  any  opinions  to  respect.  They 
assert,  in  nearly  the  same  terms  that  you  have  asserted  it,  that 
"  charters  of  public  corporations  (by  which  they  obviously  re 
fer  to  the  bank  charter),  when  not  found  agreeable  to  the  welfare 
of  the  people,  may  be  taken  away  by  the  legislature :"  that  there 
was  already  precedent  for  such  acts  in  Pennsylvania :  that 
governments,  being  instituted  for  the  public  good,  necessarily 
possess  the  power  of  repealing  every  law  inimical  to  the  public 
safety  :  that  the  Government  of  Pennsylvania  being  a  Democ 
racy,  the  bank  is  inconsistent  with  the  bill  of  rights  thereof, 
which  says  that  government  is  not  instituted  for  the  emolu 
ment  of  any  man,  family  or  set  of  men  :  that  "the  repeal  of  a 
charter  takes  away  none  of  the  property  of  the  corporators  : 
that  "  as  charters  are  gra?iied  by  the  assembly,  they  can  be  revoked 


KEPLY    TO    LNGERSOLL.  14:7 

in  no  other  way  than  by  the  assembly  :  they  camiot  be  taken  away 
by  the  courts  of  justice,  as  they  are  given  by  the  legislature" 
That,  in  fact,  the  legislature  has  no  power  "  to  give  monopolies 
of  legal  privilege  to  bestow  unequal  portions  of  our  inheritance 
on  favorites." 

These  gentlemen  admitted  what,  in  your  text,  you  do  not 
admit,  "  that  charters  are  sacred  or  otherwise,  not  because  they 
are  granted  by  legislative  or  sovereign  power,  but  according  to 
the  objects  for  which  they  are  granted ;  that  if  a  charter  is  given 
for  a  monopoly  whereby  the  natural  and  legal  rights  of  mankind 
are  invaded,  it  would  be  dangerous  to  hold  that  it  cannot  be 
annulled."  This  admission  concedes  more  than  your  argu 
ment,  by  seeming  to  leave  some  charters  inviolate,  although  the 
value  of  the  admission  is  greatly  abated  by  the  declaration 
that  a  bank  charter  is  necessarily  a  monopoly.  The  same  gen 
tlemen  are  more  liberal  than  you  in  another  point:  they  infer- 
entially  yield  the  question  that  a  bank  charter  is  a  contract, 
when  they  contend,  in  reference  to  the  repeal  they  were  de 
bating,  that  "if  charters  cannot  be  repealed  because  they  are 
contracts,  it  affords  a  great  invitation  to  fraud."  We  are  at  lib 
erty  to  presume,  from  your  repetition  of  some  of  these  argu 
ments,  and  from  the  approbation  with  which  you  quote  the 
whole  of  them,  that  you  now  adopt  them  us  your  own. 

There  is  an  allowance  to  be  made  for  the  legislators  of  1786 
which  cannot  be  extended  to  you.  They  had  a  young  nation 
to  deal  with,  and  many  lessons  to  learn.  The  theory  of  gov 
ernment  arid  the  determination  of  the  limits  of  State  power, 
have  been  much  discussed  and  wisely  considered  since  that 
era.  It  is  no  reproach  to  the  men  of  that  day,  nor  compliment 
to  those  of  the  present,  to  say  that  the  constitutional  landmarks 
of  sovereignty  are  better  defined  and  understood  by  our  gen 
eration  than  by  its  forefathers.  And  it  may  excite  no  special  won 
der  that  in  the  infancy  of  our  republics  much  confusion  and 
uncertainty  should  exist  on  these  intricate  and  perplexing 
questions.  But,  above  all,  it  is  due  to  the  legislature  whose 
opinions  you  have  cited,  to  remember  that  when  the  charter  of 


14:8  POLITICAL    PAPERS. 

the  Bank  of  North  America  was  in  debate,  there  was  no  Con 
stitution  of  the  United  States  to  warn  them  of  the  limit  of  their 
authority  touching  a  contemplated  act "  to  impair  the  obliga 
tion  of  a  contract."  Indeed  they  do  not  seem  to  have  dwelt 
with  any  marked  emphasis  upon  that  great  fundamental  prin 
ciple  which  lies  at  the  bottom  of  the  whole  controversy — how 
far,  namely,  the  solemn  pledge  of  the  faith  of  the  State  is  bind 
ing  upon  the  party  by  whom  it  is  given. 

I  cannot  but  observe  that  in  this  debate,  as  in  your  argu 
ment,  much  use  is  made  of  that  mysterious  claptrap  of  the 
demagogue,  THE  PUBLIC  GOOD — that  retreating  point  which 
every  quacksalver  in  politics  has  fallen  back  upon  ever  since  the 
days  of  Jack  Cade.  It  is  a  word  of  might :  an  incantation 
sometimes,  which  summons  up  the  "black  spirits  and  white, 
the  blue  spirits  and  gray,"  and  surrounds  the  necromancer  with 
his  appropriate  household  troops.  But  sometimes  it  is  a  mere 
word — "a  spell  o'erspent."  What  is  the  public  good?  Is  it  a 
boon  which  is  gained  by  pandering  to  the  passions  of  the  day, 
and  by  pulling  down,  on  the  instant,  what  an  artificially-excited 
popular  indignation  may  doom  to  the  sacrifice  ;  by  uprooting 
old  institutions,  and  desecrating  the  customs  of  the  sober  and 
peaceful  portions  of  the  community  ?  Does  it  consist  in  vio 
lating  the  promise  of  yesterday,  because  the  folly  of  to-day  is 
displeased  with  it  ?  Is  it  to  be  found  in  the  crusade  against 
the  rights  of  property,  and  the  accumulations  of  industry ;  in 
the  overthrow  of  the  weak  by  the  tempest  of  numbers ;  the 
rallying  of  bands  under  the  watch-word  of  party,  to  humble,  de 
grade,  and  trample  in  the  dust  those  who  have  provoked  the 
envy  and  incurred  the  hate  of  eager  innovators  ?  Is  it,  without 
deliberation,  judgment  and  forecast,  without  gentleness  of 
action  and  well  weighing  of  the  conclusion,  to  drive  out  from 
the  breasts  of  men,  the  opinions,  usages,  the  very  instincts  of 
preservation  and  prosperity,  the  elemental  endoctrinations,  the 
primary  morals,  in  which  they  have  been  nurtured,  and  by 
which  they  are  bound  in  society  ? 

Or  is  it  not  the  opposite  of  these  ?     Does  it  not  rest  more 


REPLY    TO    INGERSOLL.  149 

safely  in  teaching  the  people  to  hold  their  individual  and  col 
lective  honor  as  a  pearl  above  all  price  ;  to  carry  into  the  con 
cerns  of  society  the  morality  which  dignifies  the  man ;  to  suffer 
patiently  the  privations  of  the  present,  that  they  may  reap  the 
blessings  of  the  future ;  to  build  up  their  renown  upon  the 
scrupulous  redemption  of  every  pledge,  without  equivocation, 
quibble  or  mental  reserve  ;  to  value  the  good  opinion  of  man 
kind  at  home  and  abroad,  as  a  treasure  surpassing  all  passion 
indulged,  all  gain  or  emolument  ?  Is  it  not  achieved  by  decid 
ing,  in  doubtful  cases,  in  favor  of  faith,  forbearance  and  toler 
ation,  rather  than  tempting  the  rash  experiment  of  ambiguous 
right  with  its  destructive  results  ?  I  feel  assured  that  your 
"  forefathers  of  republicanism,"  long  before  they  departed  from 
this  sphere,  if  they  do  not  yet  survive,  were  sufficiently  con 
vinced  that  the  public  good  of  Pennsylvania,  as  they  fancied  it 
in  '86,  had  but  little  concern  with  the  licentious  victory  which 
they  accomplished  on  that  occasion.  The  prosperity  of  the 
glorious  commonwealth  in  which  you  inhabit,  and  its  miracu 
lous  growth  in  the  plentitude  of  art  and  power,  tell  how  falsely 
these  early  champions  of  violated  faith  have  pictured  the  public 
good.  But  one  year  rolled  by,  before  the  instinctive  wisdom  of 
the  State  repaired  the  wreck  of  this  heady  onslaught,  and  gave 
back  to  your  city  the  Bank  of  North  America,  whose  monu 
ment  yet  proudly  lives  to  admonish  and  instruct  you,  in  your 
daily  walks,  that  ft\z  public  good  and  ^&  public  honor  axe,  twin 
sisters,  inseparably  united  in  that  harmony  "  where  either  they 
must  live,  or  bear  no  life."  The  lapse  of  an  equal  space  here 
after,  will  condemn  your  theory  of  the  public  good  to  the  same 
censure,  and  the  next  generation  will  witness  still  prouder,  no 
bler,  and  more  enduring  monuments  of  the  wisdom  and  intel 
ligence  of  Pennsylvania,  as  manifested  in  the  act  which  has 
now  secured  to  her  the  Bank  of  the  United  States. 

I  refuse  to  dwell  in  this  place  upon  the  arguments  of  your 
early  legislature,  in  support  of  the  right  to  resume  the  charter, 
because  I  shall  have  occasion  to  meet  them  in  what  I  have  to 
say  in  reply  to  your  views  upon  the  same  subject.  I  will,  for 


150  POLITICAL    PAPERS. 

the  present,  therefore,  dismiss  them  with  a  few  words.  They 
deal  in  inapplicable  generalities,  when  they  assert  the  right  of 
the  legislature  to  repeal  laws  "  inimical  to  the  public  safety  ;" 
equally  so,  when  they  affirm  that  "  Pennsylvania  is  a  Democra 
cy,"  and  that  "  the  bank  is  inconsistent  with  the  bill  of  rights" 
which  denies  that  government  is  instituted  "  for  the  emolument 
of  any  man,  family  or  set  of  men."  They  beg  the  question, 
when  they  allege  that  the  repeal  of  a  charter  takes  away  none  of 
the  property  of  the  corporators.  They  are  greatly  in  error  when 
they  call  a  bank  charter  necessarily  a  monopoly.  And  they 
strangely  contradict  the  universal,  approved,  undisputed,  ear 
liest  and  latest  judgment  of  all  England  from  whom  we  have 
derived  our  laws,  and  of  all  America,  where  these  laws  are  re 
ceived  or  imitated,  when  they  pretend  that  "  as  charters  are 
granted  by  the  assembly  they  can  be  revoked  in  no  other  way 
than  by  the  assembly,"  and  that  "  they  cannot  be  taken  away 
by  the  courts  of  justice."  To  my  mind,  the  uttering  of  such 
immature  and  inconsiderate  assertions,  deprive  these  authori 
ties  of  any  respectable  claim  to  serious  argument.  I  leave  them 
to  the  refutation  which  they  must  surely  find  in  the  judgment 
of  every  intelligent  reader,  and  to  the  charitable  extenuation 
due  to  the  period  at  which  they  were  pronounced. 

Your  next  resource,  in  the  way  of  authority,  is  singularly 
unfortunate.  With  more  research  than  discretion,  you  have 
referred  to  the  debate  in  the  British  parliament  on  the  cele 
brated  India  bill  of  Mr.  Fox.  The  coincidence  is  somewhat 
remarkable,  that  you  should  have  pointed  to  an  event  and 
cited  the  arguments  which  were  concerned  with  the  most 
honorable  impulse  of  indignant  humanity, — the  most  elevated 
and  generous  anger  of  offended  justice — that  ever  warmed  the 
bosoms  of  a  great  nation,  and  turned  all  hearts  to  the  duties 
of  benevolence, — and  that  you  should  have  made  use  of  this 
splendid  precedent,  to  aid  you  in  an  attempt  to  accomplish 
what  the  world  will  call, — but  which,  from  the  respect  I 
bear  you,  I  will  not — a  design  of  unexampled  perfidy.  The 
two  cases  have  no  resemblance  in  any  point,  except  in  the 


REPLY    TO    INGERSOLL.  151 

magnitude  of  the  object.  They  stand  as  alpha  and  omega, — 
wide  apart  as  "  from  China  to  Peru  ;"  they  are  antipodes, 
zenith  and  nadir  ;  the  one  was  the  honor  of  Britain,  the  other, 
in  my  judgment,  would  be  the  disgrace  of  America. 

I  would  remind  you,  that  you  have  cited  this  debate  to 
prove  your  proposition  that  "  a  legislature  may  resume  a  bank 
charter,  without  judicial  proceeding  or  interposition,  or  any 
charge  of  misconduct  in  the  bank,  whenever  the  public  good 
requires  it."  And  your  purpose  is  to  infer' from  the  language 
of  Mr.  Fox  and  Mr.  Burke,  that  such  was  the  doctrine 
approved  by  the  wisest  statesmen  of  England,  in  1784.  To 
make  good  this  inference,  you  have  extracted  liberally  from 
the  speeches  of  these  gentlemen,  to  whom  you  pay  no  less  a 
tribute  of  praise  than  they  deserve ;  and,  in  conclusion  (hav 
ing,  of  course,  reference  to  your  desired  repeal  of  the  bank 
charter),  you  exclaim  with  the  fervor  of  conviction  and  triumph 
which  their  eloquence  seems  to  have  inspired,  "  we  republicans 
should  be  degenerate  offspring  of  the  English  whigs,  if  we 
refrain  from  dealing  radically  (an  ominous  word !)  with  such 
vested  rights." 

Now,  let  me  state  the  case  of  the  British  India  Bill,  and 
we  shall  be  enabled  to  decide  how  far  it  may  serve  as  a  pre 
cedent  for  the  Pennsylvania  Convention.  In  your  extracts 
from  the  speeches  of  Fox  and  Burke,  you  have  left  off  where 
you  should  have  begun  ;  you  have  culled  propositions,  and 
forestalled  conclusions  by  silence  ;  you  have  taken  out  a  brick 
from  the  building  to  lead  your  reader  to  believe  that  the  edifice 
was  of  brick,  when,  in  truth,  it  was  of  marble.  I  will  not  say 
you  were  disingenuous,  because  I  perceive  that  your  mind  was 
heated  witji  a  foregone  zeal  for  one  doctrine,  which  prevented 
you  from  seeing  any  thing  that  contradicted  it. 

First,  let  it  be  remembered  that  the  charter  of  the  India 
Company  was  a  great  political  charter.  It  conferred  empire, 
supreme  dominion,  absolute  political  sway,  over  thirty  millions 
of  people.  It  granted  entire  monopoly,  exclusive  and  un 
bounded  control  over  a  continent.  It  was  interwoven  with  the 


152  POLITICAL    PAPERS. 

political  power  of  England,  and  was  the  partner,  ally  and 
stipendiary  of  the  domestic  government  It  possessed  fleets 
and  armies,  made  war  and  peace,  and  administered  justice  in 
the  highest  matters  of  life,  liberty  and  property,  under  the 
sanction  of  its  tremendous  chartered  powers.  It  had  flagi 
tiously  and  enormously  abused  these  powers.  It  had  violated 
the  contract  upon  which  it  came  into  existence,  forfeited  its 
charter  by  a  thousand  flagrant  misdeeds,  and,  as  Mr.  Fox 
expressed  it,  had  "by  mismanagement,  connivance  and  imbe 
cility,  combined  with  the  wickedness  of  its  servants,"  caused 
"  the  very  name  of  an  Englishmen"  to  be  "  decested,  even  to 
a  proverb,  through  all  Asia,  and  the  national  character"  of 
England  to  "become  degraded  and  dishonored."  An  investi 
gation  had  been  conducted  for  years,  by  Parliament,  into  these 
abuses  ;  committees  of  both  parties,  whig  and  tory,  had  labori 
ously  examined  the  facts  ;  the  abuses,  to  the  full  extent  charged, 
had  been  admitted  on  all  sides,  without  palliation  or  excuse  ; 
and  all  England  burned  with  a  glowing  ardor  of  condemnation 
against  the  culprit  association.  Both  parties  actively  con 
tended  for  the  glory  of  furnishing  the  remedy ;  all  united  in 
the  conviction  that  Parliament  had  a  right  to  interfere,  as  for  a 
violated  compact ;  and  the  only  differences  of  opinion  con 
cerned  the  most  efficient  plan  of  remedy.  In  the  midst  of 
this  fervor  of  indignation,  it  is  recorded  to  the  honor  of  the 
British  people,  that  they  who  had  the  unquestioned  power  to 
destroy  the  whole  charter,  were  still  solicitous  to  exercise  that 
power  with  as  little  detriment  as  possible,  to  their  previous 
pledge  conveyed  by  the  charter,  and  yet  consistently  with  the 
correction  of  the  admitted  abuse.  Public  faith,  they  insisted, 
was  to  be  observed  with  the  delinquent  company,,  on  every 
point  where  such  observance  did  not  stand  in  the  way  of 
the  removal  of  the  evil.  They  could  perceive,  that  even  in 
this  case  of  a  public  corporation,  and  with  their  clear  and  ab 
solute  right  to  modify,  alter  or  destroy,  if  need  be,  the  char 
ter,  that  the  honor  of  a  just  government  was  engaged  to  pre 
serve  sacred  its  pledge  towards  the  fragment  of  charter-con  - 


REPLY    TO    INGERSOLL.  153 

tract  which  might  remain  after  the  recission  of  the  offending 
part. 

Let  it  be  remembered,  secondly — and  you  have  not  forgot 
ten  it,  although  you  seem  to  have  overlooked  its  consequences 
— that,  by  the  theory  of  the  British  constitution,  Parliament  is 
omnipotent.  It  has  no  written  limit  of  power.  It  is  the  grand 
inquest  of  the  nation,  and  as  such,  acts  judicially — and  there 
in,  as  a  court  of  justice,  it  has  jurisdiction  over  cases  of  for 
feiture  of  charter,  as  well  as  over  trust  confided  ; — jurisdiction 
more  ample  than  that  of  any  court  of  law  or  equity.  In  the 
exertion  of  this  omnipotence,  it  recognizes  no  confine  but 
what  its  own  conscience  and  sense  of  national  honor,  justice, 
and  right  impose  upon  it  as  the  representative  of  a  magnani 
mous  and  upright  people. 

These  are  the  two  preliminary  conditions  which  are  to  be 
noted  in  comparing  the  India  case  of  England,  and  the  bank 
case  of  Pennsylvania ;  and  to  make  the  precedent  available, 
it  is  incumbent  on  you  to  show  that  the  bank  has  been  guilty 
of  similar  abuse,  and  that  the  General  Assembly  of  Pennsyl 
vania  has  the  same  judicial  and  legislative  power.  Neither  of 
which  you  have  done ;  but,  on  the  contrary,  you  exclude  the 
"  charge  of  misconduct  in  the  bank"  from  your  proposition, 
and  you  admit  that  the  State  of  Pennsylvania  is  amenable  in 
its  legislation  on  contracts,  to  the  constitutional  interdict  of 
the  Federal  government,  whatever  that  interdict  may  legally 
import. 

Mr.  Fox  stated  the  object  of  his  bill  to  be  to  annihilate  an 
odious  species  of  tyranny,  the  scope  of  which  consisted  in  a 
claim  already  put  in  practice,  "  that  a  handful  of  men,  free 
themselves,  should  execute  the  most  base  and  abominable 
despotism  over  millions  of  their  fellow-creatures  ;  that  inno 
cence  should  be  the  victim  of  oppression  ;  that  industry  should 
toil  for  rapine  ;  that  the  harmless  laborer  should  sweat,  not  for 
his  own  benefit,  but  for  the  luxury  and  rapacity  of  tyrannic 
depredation  ;  in  a  word,  that  thirty  millions  of  men,  gifted  by 
providence  with  the  ordinary  endowments  of  humanity,  should 
7* 


154  POLITICAL    PAPERS. 

groan  under  a  species  of  despotism  unmatched  in  all  the  his 
tories  of  the  world."  "  This  is  the  kind  of  government,"  he 
added,  "  exercised  under  the  East  India  Company  upon  the 
natives  of  Indostan ;  and  the  subversion  of  that  infamous 
government  is  the  main  object  of  the  bill  in  question." 

Mr.  Burke's  course  of  argument  is  indicated  in  the  follow 
ing  extracts  :  "  By  some  gentlemen,"  he  remarked,  "  this  bill 
is  taken  up  as  a  point  of  law,  on  a  question  of  private  prop 
erty,  and  corporate  franchise."  "  It  is  a  little  painful  to  me," 
he  afterwards  added,  "  to  observe  the  intrusion  into  this  im 
portant  debate  of  such  company  as  quo  warranto  and  man 
damus  and  certiorari,  as  if  we  were  on  a  trial  about  mayors 
and  aldermen  and  capital  burgesses,  or  engaged  in  a  suit  con 
cerning  the  borough  of  Penryn,  or  Saltash,  or  St.  Ives,  or  St. 
Mawes."  "  It  is  not  right,  it  is  not  worthy  of  us  in  this  man 
ner  to  depreciate  the  value,  to  degrade  the  majesty  of  this 
grave  deliberation  of  policy  and  empire." 

After  descanting  on  the  term  "  the  chartered  rights  of  men," 
in  the  language  you  have  quoted  in  your  letter,  he  continued ; 
"the  strong  admission  I  have  made  of  the  company's  rights  — 
I  am  conscious  of  it — binds  me  to  do  a  great  deal.  I  do  not 
presume  to  condemn  those  who  argue  a  priori  against  the  pro 
priety  of  leaving  such  extensive  political  powers  in  the  hands 
of  a  company  of  merchants.  I  know  much  is  and  much  may 
be  said  against  such  a  system.  But  with  my  particular  ideas 
and  sentiments,  I  cannot  go  that  way  to  work.  I  feel  an  in 
superable  reluctance  in  giving  my  hand  to  destroy  any  established 
institution  of  government  upon  a  theory,  however  plausible  it 
may  be." 

"  To  justify  us  in  taking  the  administration  of  their  affairs 
out  of  the  hands  of  the  East  India  Company,  on  my  principles, 
I  must  see  several  conditions,  ist.  The  object  affected  by 
the  abuse  should  be  great  and  important.  2cl.  The  abuse  af 
fecting  this  great  object,  ought  to  be  a  great  abuse.  3d.  It 
ought  to  be  habitual  and  not  accidental.  4th.  It  ought  to  be 
utterly  incurable  in  the  body  as  it  now  stands  constituted. 


REPLY    TO    INGETCSOLL.  155 

All  this  ought  to  be  made  as  visible  to  me  as  the  light  of  the  sun, 
before  I  should  strike  off  an  atom  of  their  charter" 

When,  in  an  argument  of  unparalleled  force  and  eloquence, 
he  had  demonstrated  the  existence  of  every  condition  upon 
which  he  rested  the  right  of  parliamentary  interposition,  he 
concludes  with  these  observations  : — "  It  has  been  said,  if  you 
violate  this  charter,  what  security  has  the  charter  of  the  Bank, 
in  which  public  credit  is  so  deeply  concerned,  and  even  the 
charter  of  London  in  which  the  rights  of  so  many  subjects  are 
involved  ?  I  answer,  in  the  like  case,  they  have  no  security  at 
all— no — no  security  at  all.  If  the  Bank  should,  by  every 
species  of  mismanagement,  fall  into  a  state  similar  to  that  of 
the  East  India  Company  ;  if  it  should  be  oppressed  with  demands 
it  could  not  answer,  engagements  which  it  could  not  perform,  and 
with  bills  for  wJiich  it  could  not  procure  payment ;  no  charter 
should  protect  the  mismanagement  from  correction,  and  such  pub 
lic  grievances  from  redress.  If  the  city  of  London  had  the 
means  and  will  of  destroying  an  empire,  and  of  cruelly  op 
pressing  and  tyrannizing  over  millions  of  men  as  good  as  them 
selves,  the  charter  of  the  city  of  London  should  prove  no  sanc 
tion  to  such  tyranny  and  such  oppression.  Charters  are  kept, 
when  their  purposes  are  maintained ;  they  are  violated,  when  the 
privilege  is  supported  against  its  end  and  its  object" 

Nothing  can  be  more  explicit  than  the  avowal  throughout 
this  debate,  that  the  judgment  of  Parliament  is  invoked  against 
this  charter  upon  the  sole  and  exclusive  ground  of  abuse, — vi 
olation,  by  the  Company,  of  the  contract  with  the  government, 
to  a  degree  that  justified  a  sentence  of  forfeiture.  The  princi 
ple  of  law  contended  for  was  neither  more  nor  less  than  the 
familiar  principle  recognized  at  this  day,  both  by  our  Federal 
and  State  Governments — the  right  of  forfeiture  founded  on 
breach  of  charter.  By  the  organization  of  our  government,  this 
principle  of  law  is  administered  through  a  different  channel 
from  that  which  may  be  chosen  in  Great  Britain.  Our  States 
act  upon  these  questions  by  the  arm  of  the  judiciary,  not  by  the 
judgment  of  the  legislature,  except  in  the  case  of purely  poiit- 


150 


POLITICAL    PAPERS. 


ical  corporations.  Violation  of  the  charter  contract  is  a  ques 
tion  upon  which  our  judiciaries  universally  may  pronounce 
sentence  of  forfeiture.  The  facts  which  constitute  that  viola 
tion,  it  is  the  right  of  our  corporations  in  most  of  the  States  to 
submit  to  juries ;  the  law  affecting  these  subjects,  it  is  their 
equal  right  to  contest  in  the  courts.  The  legislature  of  these 
States,  in  the  case  of  corporations  not  political,  can  rightfully 
interfere  with  neither  the  law  nor  the  fact. 

As  regards  purely  political  corporations, — and  by  this  de 
scription,  I  refer  to  the  class  designated  in  the  decisions  of 
the  Supreme  Court,  which  I  shall  have  occasion  to  notice  in 
the  sequel, — I  admit  that  the  same  considerations  which  might 
move  the  Parliament  of  Great  Britain  to  resume  or  alter  a  char 
ter,  may  have  weight  to  induce  the  same  action  in  our  Federal 
and  State  legislatures.  In  that  regard,  these  legislatures  are 
under  no  other  restraints  than  the  same  honorable  obligation 
to  preserve  faith  in  contracts  which  belongs  to  every  just  and 
intelligent  sovereign.  The  physical  power  of  sovereignty, 
wherever  it  resides,  has  no  limit  but  that  which  the  final  impo 
tence  of  its  nature  has  imposed  upon  it :  the  moral  duty  of  sov 
ereignty  is  prescribed  by  the  law  of  God,  and  as  imperiously 
restrains  the  physical  power  as  if  written  on  parchment  and 
supported  by  armies.  No  one  can  doubt  that  the  British  Par 
liament,  in  the  case  we  have  referred  to,  might,  if  it  had  seen 
fit,  upon  much  weaker  grounds  than  were  presented  by  the 
facts,  have  even  wantonly  broken  down  the  charter  in  question  ; 
and  none  could  have  disputed  the  legality  of  the  act.  That  it 
spurned  the  exercise  of  such  a  power  on  such  grounds,  and  pre 
scribed  rules  to  its  own  action  which  forbade  it ;  that  it  stood 
upon  the  lofty  assertion  of  regard  for  its  plighted  faith  and  of 
scrupulous  requirement  of  every  condition  of  forfeiture  which 
might  satisfy  a  limited  law  tribunal,  may  be  told  to  its  lasting 
praise.  Such  an  example  is  an  admonition  and  a  lesson  which 
the  States  of  this  Union  may  study,  for  the  perpetuation  of  their 
own  renown,  and  to  the  permanent  advantage  of  their  citizens. 
Let  every  legislator  in  the  convention  of  Pennsylvania,  or  in 


REPLY   TO    INGERSOLL.  157 

her  general  assembly,  when  the  bank  question  shall  come  be 
fore  him,  reflect  over  the  language  I  have  quoted  from  Mr. 
Burke, — "  I  feel  an  insuperable  reluctance  in  giving  my  hand 
to  destroy  any  established  institution  of  government,  upon  a 
theory,  however  plausible  it  may  be."  I  conjure  you,  Mr. 
Ingersoll,  on  the  same  occasion,  when  you  are  about  to  propose 
your  theory,  to  reflect  on  the  possible  fate  that  may  await  it. 
You  may  then  be  taught  something  useful  to  yourself  by  study 
ing  the  eventual  history  of  the  India  bill.  The  annals  of 
Great  Britain  will  show  you,  that  although  the  facts  of  that  case 
were  a  thousand  times  more  aggravated  than  any  thing  you 
can  allege  against  the  Bank,  the  measure  of  Mr.  Fox  was 
deemed  somewhat  too  harsh,  and  that  its  failure  consigned 
him  and  his  party  to  political  insignificance.  Even  this  great 
light  paled  before  the  genius  of  the  stripling  minister,  when 
that  stripling  found  an  ally  in  the  universal  desire  of  the 
British  nation  to  stand  by  the  faith  they  had  plighted  in  a 
charter.  You  may  remember  this  with  advantage,  and  re 
member  too  that  there  are  many  youths  in  Pennsylvania,  and 
many  a  pebble  in  her  brooks  to  strike  down  every  Goliah  of 
radicalism  who  may  go  forth  from  Gath. 

I  hasten  now  to  your  other  propositions.  I  shall  take 
these  up  in  an  order  different  from  that  in  which  you  have 
announced  them,  for  the  sake  of  condensation. 

The  fifth  and  sixth,  ninth  and  tenth,  like  the  second  and 
third,  manifest  an  error  in  the  application  and  use  of  the  term 
"  privilege,"  and  its  adjunct  phrase  "  in  derogation  of  com 
mon  right." 

This  is  a  very  material  and  pervading  error  in  your  argu 
ment. 

An  act  of  incorporation  is  not  necessarily,  in  the  sense  in 
which  you  use  it,  "  a  privilege  :"  nor  is  it  necessarily  "  in  de 
rogation  of  common  right." 

Acts  of  incorporation — I  speak  of  those  with  which  we 
are  familiar  in  our  States — do  sometimes  convey  "  privileges" 
in  the  acceptation  which  your  argument  requires — though  not 


158  POLITICAL    PAPERS. 

often.     Still  less  often — indeed  very  rarely — are  these  grants 
"  in  derogation  of  common  right." 

The  "  forefathers  of  republicanism"  —  Messrs.  Findley, 
Smilie,  Edgar  and  Whitehill — are  represented  by  you  to  have 
asserted  what  strikes  me  as  bordering  somewhat  on  the  comic, 
in  reference  to  this  question  of  "  privilege"  and  derogation 
of  common  right.  I  should  have  taken  it  for  a  jest  played 
off  against  the  credulity  of  the  house,  if  it  had  not  appeared 
in  a  letter  much  too  grave  for  such  a  sally.  You  report, 
"  They  asserted  that  charters  as  originally  granted,  in  the 
twelfth  and  thirteenth  centuries,  to  towns  and  cities,  exempting 
them  from  the  general  vassalage,  then  prevalent,  were  sacred 
instruments  (by  which  they  meant,  of  course,  inviolable  by 
legislation),  because  they  secured  to  the  persons  on  whom  they 
were  bestowed,  their  natural  rights  and  immunities." 

"We  have  changed  all  that."  These  charters  to  town* 
and  cities  are  almost  the  only  ones  which  it  is  now  conceded, 
since  the  Dartmouth  College  case,  the  legislatures  have  a  right 
to  cut  and  carve  as  they  please.  All  are  sacred  but  these. 
However,  that  is  not  what  I  extracted  the  sentence  for :  the 
legislature  of  Pennsylvania  in  1786,  is  quite  excusable  for  not 
understanding  the  law  of  the  Dartmouth  College  case.  What 
I  wished  to  remark  is  this, — that  the  opponents  of  the  Bank 
of  North  America  have  oddly  enough,  in  their  argument 
against  that  charter,  which  they  attack  because  it  was  a  mo 
nopoly,  an  exclusive  privilege,  an  antagonist  party  to  the  State, 
an  enemy  to  democracy,  inimical  to  the  public  safety,  ad 
verse  to  the  rights  of  equal  protection,  a  little  aristocracy, 
inconsistent  with  the  laws,  habits  and  manners  of  the  State, 
— they  have  oddly  enough  snatched  out  from  this  broad  pro 
scription,  the  charters  granted  in  the  twelfth  and  thirteenth 
centuries. 

When  I  said  an  act  of  corporation  is  not  necessarily  "  a 
privilege,"  and  "  in  derogation  of  common  right,"  my  mind 
was  directed  to  the  corporations  with  which  you  and  I  are 
familiar  as  citizens  of  Pennsylvania  and  Maryland  ;  and  as  I 


REPLY   TO    TXGERSOLL.  159 

intended  to  explain  what  kind  of  corporations  were  clothed 
with  "  privileges  in  derogation  of  common  right,"  my  mind 
was  again,  as  irresistibly  carried  to  the  charters  of  the  middle 
ages.  Judge  of  my  surprise,  when  I  found  myself  plump  in 
the  very  faces  of  your  forefathers — "  avos  et  proavos,  et  quag 
non  fecimus  ipsi,  vix  ea  nostra  voco." 

These  charters  of  the  middle  ages  conveyed,  to  my  appre 
hension,  in  every  sense  of  the  term,  monopolies,  "  exclusive 
privileges,"  "in  derogation  of  the  common  right"  Their 
general  and  most  ordinary  character  was  to  confer  some  one 
or  more  of  the  following  exclusive  privileges  : 

Exclusive  rights  to  particular  branches  of  trade  : 

Exclusive  permission  to  carry  on  certain  manufactures  or 
handicrafts  : 

Exclusive  rights  of  navigation  of  particular  rivers  or  seas ; 

Exemption  from  certain  taxes,  or  services,  required  from 
all  the  rest  of  the  nation  for  the  support  of  government  : 

Exemption  from  contribution  of  personal  service  in  car 
rying  on  the  wars  of  the  nation  : 

Privileges  to  levy  imposts  and  duties  within  their  own  walls 
for  their  own  benefit:  and 

To  administer  justice  according  to  laws  and  customs  of 
their  own. 

Every  power  or  privilege  to  which  I  have  alluded  in  this 
catalogue,  and  many  more  might  be  added,  is  exclusive,  being 
denied  to  the  rest  of  the  nation,  and  therefore  constitutes 
"  monopoly :"  most  of  these  powers  or  privileges  act  as  re 
straints  upon  the  rest  of  the  nation,  subject  them  to  duties, 
increase  their  burdens,  trench  upon  their  common  rights,  and 
are  therefore,  "  in  derogation  of  the  common  right."  A  privi 
lege  which  exempts  you  from  contribution  to  the  common  de 
fence,  throws  upon  me  a  greater  share  in  that  contribution, 
and  is  "  in  derogation  of  my  common  right." 

All  such  charters  are  odious  in  their  nature,  and  have 
been,  I  may  say  altogether,  repudiated  in  this  country.  We 
have  scarcely  an  example  of  them.  The  fundamental  dec- 


160  POLITICAL    PAPERS. 

laration  of  rights  in  many  of  our  States  denounce  monopolies 
as  intolerable,  and  not  to  be  granted. 

On  the  other  side,  what  are  our  customary  corporations  ? 
I  do  not  hesitate  to  reply,  in  answer  to  this  question, — the 
most  signal  instruments  by  which  the  prosperity  of  our  most 
prosperous  States  has  been  obtained.  They  are  the  familiar 
agencies  through  which  almost  every  great  enterprise  has  been 
accomplished.  They  have  given  to  youthful  America  all  the 
vigor  of  a  ripe  and  wealthy  nation.  They  are  endeared  to  us 
by  the  richest  fruits  of  our  political  advancement  What  our 
scant  individual  wealth  has  been  unable  to  attain,  their  means 
of  associated  wealth  have  brought  us  in  profusion.  They  are 
interwoven  into  our  habits  with  a  household  familiarity  and 
constitute  our  simplest,  most  obvious  and  most  useful  modes 
of  action.  Our  institutions  are  studded  over  with  private 
charters.  We  have  charters  for  universities,  colleges,  acade 
mies  and  schools  :  for  hospitals,  almshouses,  infirmaries,  and 
every  other  species  of  institution  by  which  feebleness  may  be 
protected,  and  misery  relieved.  We  have  charters  for  churches, 
vestries,  congregations  and  meeting-houses  :  for  manufactures 
in  all  their  endless  varieties  \  for  banks  ;  for  insurances  against 
fire,  against  the  seas,  against  all  kinds  of  casualties :  for  wa 
ter  companies,  for  fisheries,  and  for  hunting  the  forest :  for 
the  improvement  of  agriculture,  for  draining  marshes,  for  cut 
ting  timber,  for  digging  mines.  We  have  charters  for  the 
encouragement  of  the  fine  arts,  for  libraries,  for  foreign  mis 
sions,  and  for  the  establishment  of  foreign  colonies.  We  have 
them  for  turnpikes,  bridges,  canals,  railroads,  steam  naviga 
tion,  packets,  and  carriage  by  sea.  In  short,  there  is  scarce 
ly  a  conceivable  object  of  human  industry,  or  field  for  specu 
lation  and  adventure  which  does  not  derive  aid  from  this 
principle  of  association.  What  is  the  consequence  ?  Look 
to  your  own  State.  You  have  a  thousand  charters  on  your 
statute  book,  and  you  have  a  people  rejoicing  in  unmatched 
vigor  and  wealth.  Whoever  thought,  until  the  doctrine  h\as 
been  lately  broached,  that  Pennsylvania,  in  these  thousand 


REPLY   TO    INGERSOLL.  161 

charters,  has  ever  surrendered  or  put  in  abeyance  one  jot  of  her 
sovereignty  ? 

I  undertake  to  say  that  not  ten  of  all  these  charters  con 
vey  what  may  be  strictly  called  "  a  privilege  :"  that  not  one  is 
"in  derogation  of  the  common  right."  They  are  altogether 
harmless  as  regards  any  supposed  danger  from  their  powers  : 
they  are  full  of  usefulness  and  good  works. 

By  "  privilege,"  I  mean  something  which  the  corporators 
had  not  before  the  grant  of  the  charter. 

Take  any  one  of  these  charters  and  examine  what  it  con 
fers  upon  the  company  :  and  then  inquire  whether  the  persons 
composing  the  company  had  not  the  right  to  do  the  same 
thing  before  they  got  the  charter.  In  an  insurance  company, 
each  and  all  the  stockholders  might  severally  or  conjointly 
have  underwritten  policies  and  received  premiums  and  divided 
the  profits,  before  the  grant  of  the  charter,  just  as  they  did 
afterwards :  so  of  the  banks ;  so  of  the  manufactories,  and 
all  the  rest. 

Then  what  has  the  charter  conferred  upon  them  ?  It  has 
given  to  these  corporators,  and  generally  for  short  periods,  a 
joint  entity,  a  collective  individuality,  successiveness,  and, 
in  some  cases,  perpetuity.  Who  benefits  by  this  investiture 
of  corporate  tangibility  ?  In  part  the  corporators  ;  in  greater 
part,  the  public.  A  large  body  of  men  associated  by  a  private 
tie,  can  scarcely  be  sued  at  all :  the  suitor  cannot  find  the 
partners,  and  his  writ  is  perpetually  suffering  abatement,  or 
his  debtor  gets  beyond  his  reach.  //  is  for  the  benefit  of  the 
public,  therefore,  that  the  association  is  so  identified  by  law, 
that  its  name  and  seal  represent  in  your  courts  the  whole 
association.  The  transmission  of  its  property  in  a  course  of 
succession,  is  equally  for  the  benefit  of  the  public,  because 
there  it  is  to  answer  its  responsibilities.  Are  these  qualities, 
"  privileges"  of  the  association  ?  I  answer  no.  They  are 
merely  qualities.  A  corporation  is  a  machine  invented  to  do 
that,  more  expeditiously  and  effectually,  which  the  individuals 
composing  the  machine  might  do,  if  I  may  so  express  it,  by 


102  POLITICAL    PAPERS. 

manual  labor.  It  is  like  a  steam  engine  ; — it  has  its  appara 
tus,  and  it  performs  its  function  according  to  the  law  of  its 
nature :  and  you  may  with  the  same  propriety  call  the  pecu 
liar  mode  by  which  the  steam  engine  produces  its  result,  the 
"  privilege"  of  the  engine,  as  to  give  that  name  to  the  correla 
tive  function  of  a  corporation.  It  would  be  equally  correct, 
too,  to  say,  that  the  State  has  parted  with  a  portion  of  her 
sovereignty  when  she  purchases  a  steam  engine,  as  when  she 
charters  a  company. 

Are  these  powers  of  the  corporations  monopolies  ?  Surely 
not;  unless  the  legislature  has  forbidden  any  one  else  to 
carry  on  the  same  business  in  competition  with  them.  If 
these  are  monopolies,  every  mercantile  partnership  is  a  mo 
nopoly.  For  exactly  as  in  the  case  of  a  private  partnership, 
a  thousand  other  companies  may  engage  in  the  same  business, 
and  the  legislature  will  not  scruple  to  give  them  charters.  So 
also  may  all  the  world,  without  charters,  embark  in  the  same 
pursuit,  and  run  the  race  of  rivalry  with  the  company  to  any 
extent  they  choose.  What  feature  of  monopoly  is  there  in  all 
this  ? 

Is  it  in  derogation  of  common  right  ?  Certainly  not.  It 
is  common  right  itself.  No  man  is  hindered,  molested,  or 
denied  in  the  prosecution  of  the  same  business.  There  is 
nothing  taken  away  from  the  rest  of  mankind,  no  additional 
burden  put  upon  them,  no  service  exacted  from  them,  no 
diminution  of  property,  right  or  power,  except  that  which  the 
law  always  encourages — the  diminution  of  personal  advantage 
resulting  from  the  competition  of  those  who  are  more  skilful 
to  supply  the  public  wants. 

In  truth,  so  far  from  being  "  in  derogation  of  common 
right"  a  charter  generally  imposes  upon  the  corporators  cer 
tain  restraints  and  disabilities,  which,  in  their  natural  persons, 
they  would  be  exempt  from.  They  are  generally  limited  to 
the  possession  of  a  certain  quantity  of  property  ;  restricted 
to  a  certain  definite  course  of  business  ;  required  to  make 
public  exhibits  of  their  affairs  ;  to  pay  certain  stipends  to  the 


REPLY    TO    INGERSOLL.  163 

Government :  and  frequently  is  superadded  to  these  restraints 
and  exactions,  a  personal  liability  of  the  corporators,  beyond 
the  corporate  wealth — thus  compelling  them  to  become  se 
curities  for  the  engagements  of  the  corporation.  Now  all 
these  provisions,  except  the  last, — and  that,  to  a  certain  ex 
tent,  may  be  put  in  the  same  class — are,  in  some  degree,  in 
derogation  of  the  common  right  of  the  corporators,  but,  in  no 
degree,  of  that  of  the  public. 

I  know  one  corporation  in  Maryland  that  has  "  an  exclu 
sive  privilege  in  derogation  of  common  right" — I  can  recall 
no  other.  It  is  a  bank  which  is  clothed  by  its  charter  with 
summary  powers  to  collect  its  debts  by  a  less  tedious  course 
of  trial  than  other  companies  or  persons  in  the  State.  I  be 
lieve  it  has  seldom  exerted  this  power,  in  deference  to  a  com 
mon  opinion  of  its  doubtful  constitutionality.  I  cannot  con 
sent  to  denominate  the  powers  of  road  companies,  and  others 
of  the  same  description,  to  condemn  lands,  as  "  exclusive 
privileges."  These  are  of  the  class  of  ordinary  powers  which 
are  constantly  resorted  to  for  the  opening  of  highways  and 
streets, — familiar,  I  presume,  to  every  part  of  the  United 
States.  Neither  is  the  right  of  toll  to  be  so  considered.  This 
is  but  paying  the  debt  due  by  the  public,  to  those  who  have 
furnished  the  public  with  an  easement,  and  is  the  result  of  a 
previous  contract  ratified  by  the  parties  on  each  side.  It  is 
no  more  an  exclusive  privilege,  or  grant  in  derogation  of  com-- 
mon  right,  than  belonged  to  the  builder  of  the  State  House 
at  Harrisburg  when  he  claimed  from  the  State  the  price  of 
the  building. 

You  will  perceive  that  I  have  said  nothing  of  the  charters 
granted  to  cities,  towns,  counties,  or  villages.  I  have  refrained 
from  noticing  them  only  because  they  are  purely  political  cor 
porations,  and  do  not  strictly  include  the  idea  of  contract. 
The  parties  on  both  sides,  in  these  corporations,  are  the  public, 
and  being  erected  solely  for  the  better  administration  of  Govern 
ment,  they  are  at  all  times  subject  to  modification  at  the  will 
of  the  supreme  authority. 


164  POLITICAL    PAPERS. 

Corporations  are  always  created  in  this  country  by  the 
legislature.  The  grant  of  a  corporate  franchise  implies  the 
deliberate  assent  of  the  legislature  to  the  wisdom  and  sound 
policy  of  the  grant.  A  legislature  has  no  right — I  speak  in  a 
moral  sense — to  pass  any  act  but  for  the  benefit  of  the 
country.  It  must  be  presumed,  therefore,  in  all  cases,  that 
sufficient  political  inducements  existed, — some  clear  conviction 
of  public  advantage  resulting  from  the  act, — to  determine  the 
legislature  to  make  the  grant.  The  charter  contains  a  pledge 
to  the  corporation  that  if  it  will  perform  the  contemplated  ser 
vice  to  the  public,  by  following  specifically  the  forms  of  ac 
tion  written  out  in  the  charter,  it  shall  have  the  benefit  which 
the  charter  proposes  to  it.  This  is  a  contract.  It  is  impos 
sible  to  state  a  case  of  contract  more  complete  in  all  essen 
tials. 

There  are  two  distinct  contracting  parties — the  public  on 
the  one  side,  and  the  private  citizens  who  are  to  constitute 
the  corporation,  on  the  other  : 

There  is  a  valuable  object  to  be  accomplished,  and  the  de 
liberate  judgment  of  both  parties  on  the  importance  and  value 
of  that  object : 

There  is  an  act  undertaken  to  be  done,  by  the  State  who 
desires  the  proposed  advantage  : 

There  is  a  duty  undertaken  to  be  performed  by  the  compa 
ny,  for  the  attainment  of  this  proposed  advantage  and  the  dis 
pensation  of  it  to  the  public  : 

There  is  a  performance  by  the  State  of  its  share  of  the  con 
tract,  by  public  investiture  of  the  corporate  franchise  in  the  com 
pany: 

There  is  an  acceptance  of  the  investiture  by  the  company, 
and  a  setting  about  the  work  to  be  performed. 

The  contract  is  absolute  in  all  its  conditions. 

I  am  thus  brought  to  the  consideration  of  the  proposi 
tions  in  which  you  dispute  that  a  corporate  franchise  is  the  sub 
ject  of  a  contract,  and  especially  that  a  bank  charter  is  of  this 
character. 


REPLY    TO    INGERSOLL.  165 

This  argument  occupies  a  large  portion  of  your  letter,  and 
may  be  referred  to  as  mainly  or  incidentally  developed  in  the 
points  enumerated  from  the  sixth  to  the  seventeenth,  both  in 
clusive. 

If  I  understand  you  correctly,  you  admit  that  the  legisla 
ture  cannot  take  away  "  the  property"  of  a  corporation,  but  you 
contend  that  it  can  take  away  "  the  privilege"  because  privilege  is 
not  property.  This  theory — being  asserted  without  limitation 
as  to  the  nature  or  object  of  the  corporation — I  take  it  for 
granted,  you  consider  applicable  to  every  kind  of  corporation, 
\\hether  bank  or  bridge,  canal  or  college.  Indeed,  from  the 
nature  of  the  proposition,  if  it  be  true,  it  must  apply  to  all. 

If  by  "  privilege"  you  mean  any  exclusive  right,  the  like  of 
which  the  legislature  contracts  to  grant  to  no  other  body,  I 
can  almost  agree  with  you  so  far  as  to  say  that  the  legislature 
may  destroy  its  exclusiveness,  not,  however,  because  the  privi 
lege  is  not  property,  but  because  it  is  exclusive.  I  can  almost 
agree  to  this,  from  an  aversion  to  exclusive  grants, — concerning 
which  much  may  be  said  to  show  that  some  of  the  States,  at  least, 
did  not  design  to  allow  them.  But  the  only  extent  to  which  I 
would  be  willing  to  go  in  the  destruction  of  an  exclusive  privi 
lege,  would  be  by  granting,  when  the  occasion  required  it, 
another  privilege  of  the  same  sort  to  another  body.  There 
ends  the  exclusiveness.  I  would  not  even  sanction  this  extent 
of  legislation,  but  upon  cogent  motives  of  policy  as  well  as 
strong  constitutional  objections,  and  a  clear  conviction  brought 
to  my  mind,  in  the  case  which  might  arise,  that  the  grant  of 
monopoly  was  forbidden  to  the  State  that  had  created  the  ex 
clusive  privilege. 

But  if  by  "privilege"  you  mean  that  attribute  or  quality  by 
which  every  corporation  performs  its  proper  function,  and  I 
suppose,  in  reference  to  the  subject  of  your  letter — (the  bank), 
you  can  mean  nothing  else, — I  entirely  deny  any  shadow  of 
right  in  the  legislature  to  destroy  it.  It  is  as  much  property  as 
the  money  in  the  vault.  Why  not  ?  Is  it  not  purchased  by 
service — service  which  always  supposes  large  outlay  of  money? 


166  POLITICAL    PAPERS. 

Was  it  not  deemed  a  thing  of  value  when  it  was  made  the  sub 
ject  of  stipulation  ?  Can  it  not  be  enjoyed  just  as  much  as 
houses  or  lands?  Is  it  not  transmissible  to  successors? 
Does  it  not  impose  duties,  often  onerous  and  costly  ?  Is  it  the 
less  valuable  because  it  is  incorporeal  ?  What  is  a  right  of 
toll,  a  right  of  visitation,  a  right  of  voting,  a  right  of  pleading 
in  the  corporate  name,  of  holding  property,  of  making  deeds, 
contracts  and  engagements  in  the  same  capacity  ?  Are  all 
these  too  insignificant  to  be  deemed  property  in  this  country, 
and  outlaws  from  your  courts  ?  If  you  desire  to  test  the  value 
of  these  rights  and  bring  them  to  the  gross  standard  of  money, 
inquire  what  gold  and  silver,  houses  and  lands,  the  possessors 
of  these  rights,  in  your  multitude  of  corporations  in  Philadel 
phia,  will  take  in  exchange  for  them.  This  corporate  fran 
chise,  quality  or  privilege  is  a  right — a  vested  right — in  the 
phrase  of  the  "  forefathers  of  republicanism,"  and,  according  to 
the  meaning  of  that  phrase,  a  sacred  right.  It  \?>  property,  to  all 
intents  within  the  protection  of  the  law. 

I  will  not  discuss  farther  than  I  have  done  whether  a  char 
ter  is  a  contract.  I  think  it  beyond  discussion  ;  but  I  will 
pause  to  inquire  how  it  comes  to  pass  that  you  should  assume, 
or  doubt,  that  a  bank  charter  is  not  a  contract. 

I  do  not  know  whether  you  admit  the  other  charters,  the 
turnpike,  railroad,  canal  and  the  rest,  to  be  contracts  or  not : 
there  seems  to  be  some  confusion  in  your  letter  on  this  point ; 
but  it  is  evident  that  your  hostility  to  the  bank  is  immitigable. 
You  are  satisfied  that  no  court  has  yet  decided  that  the  bank 
charters  are  contracts  ;  that  it  is  an  open  question  :  and  you 
are  most  clear  yourself  that  they  are  not  contracts. 

Now,  I  have  given  you  a  classification  of  charter  compa 
nies,  of  which  I  have  no  doubt  there  are  some  thousands  in  the 
United  States.  Looking  at  that  list,  I  say  to  you,  that  if 
among  all  these  colleges,  manufactories,  hospitals,  roads,  ca 
nals,  bridges,  insurance  offices  and  banks — I  mean  all  of  all 
sorts  in  that  aggregate — if  there  was  one  charter  upon  which 
I  could  be  persuaded  to  doubt  whether  it  was  a  contract  invi- 


REPLY    TO    INGERSOLL.  167 

olable  in  its  nature  by  the  legislature,  it  would  not  be  the  case 
of  a  bank  charter  :  or  rather  if  I  were  called  to  select  one 
which  was  peculiarly  inviolable,  one  which,  in  the  language  of 
worldly  faith,  stood  "  upon  the  honor  of  the  exchange,"  guarded 
by  that  stern  and  unsparing  law  of  rigid  obligation  whichy  fur 
nishes  the  mercantile  test  of  a  man  of  credit  or  a  man  with 
out — I  should  point  to  the  case  of  the  bank  charters.  You 
may  doubt  upon  all  the  rest,  but  upon  these,  it  is  not  lawful 
to  doubt. 

The  other  corporations  had  in  due  order  projected  their 
plans,  argued  their  cases  before  the  legislature,  demonstrated 
their  usefulness,  and  got  their  charters  \  some  with  labor  and 
policy,  and  long  sueing  and  long  suffering ;  some  easily  and 
at  a  word.  But  the  banks  had  a  gauntlet  to  run  ;  they  had  not 
only  to  sue  long  and  suffer  tribulation — to  demonstrate  by 
proofs  "  luculent  and  irrefragable"  their  value  to  society  ;  and 
withal  to  submit  to  a  load  of  restrictions,  pains  and  penalties 
— but  they  had,  besides,  to  pay  down  into  the  lap  of  their  au 
gust  sovereign  the  ready  money — grceca  fide  agere.  Your  bo 
nds  is  the  fashion  of  the  day,  and  nil  m'si  bonum,  the  current 
and  accepted  motto.  This  bonus  is  a  superadded  feature  of 
contract.  It  is  a  quietus  to  all  argument  on  that  score. 

The  bonus  is  the  bank  exception.  I  do  not  complain  of  it. 
It  is  a  speculation  of  the  State  founded  on  the  experience  that 
bank  associations  make  a  great  deal  of  money,  in  their  career 
of  managing  the  business  they  undertake  and  which  they  per 
form,  it  is  not  denied,  with  advantage  to  the  community.  It 
is  a  matter  of  bargain,  and  the  banks  being  willing  to  give, 
and  the  people  to  take,  no  one  has  a  right  to  find  fault  with 
the  compact.  Our  banks  in  Maryland  have  made  a  good 
turnpike  road  to  Cumberland,  they  furnish  a  revenue  for  nu 
merous  schools  besides.  Your  banks  have  done  full  as  much 
for  the  public  treasury.  Is  it  not  strange,  after  weighing  these 
matters,  you  should  say  a  bank  charter  was  not  a  contract  to 
be  respected  ?  Is  it  not  still  more  strange  that  you  should 
assert  the  right  of  the  legislature  to  break  up  such  a  charter, 


168  POLITICAL    PAPERS. 

without  charge  of  misconduct  even — and  add  to  this  assertion 
that,  PERHAPS,  in  such  a  proceeding  the  bonus  ought  to  be  re 
stored.  That  poor  "perhaps"  stands  there  as  a  wretched  casu 
ist,  borne  down  by  the  load  of  sin  you  have  heaped  upon  his 
shoulders,  and  vainly  endeavors  to  look  up,  with  an  honest 
face,  upon  the  crowd  of  astonished  and  indignant  contemners 
of  his  shabby  office. 

You  call  this  bonus  "  the  price  of  privilege."  Are  you  aware 
what  evidence  this  declaration  furnishes  of  the  value  of  a  right 
which  you  think  too  insignificant  to  be  called  property,  and  too 
unsubstantial  to  be  entitled  to  the  protection  of  the  courts  ? 
It  is  exactly,  in  figures,  $5,775,000.  Perhaps  that  ought  to  be 
restored  !  When  you  calmly  revise  your  letter — as  I  am  sure 
you  will  do  in  some  moment  of  wholesome  self-examination — 
I  predict  that  you  will  run  your  pen  through  that  word  "per 
haps." 

But  after  all,  what  says  the  Supreme  Court  ?  You  say 
that  "  as  far  as  the  direct  question  of  bank  charters  is  con 
cerned  the  Supreme  Court  has  never  passed  upon  it ;  and  we 
are  at  liberty  to  discuss  it  free  from  the  weight  of  their  author 
ity."  The  force  of  your  argument  consists  in  the  affirmation 
that  a  bank  charter  creates  a  public  corporation.  That  its  pur 
poses  are  public  and  interesting  to  the  Government :  and  that 
as  it  is  not  therefore  a  private  corporation  it  does  not  come  un 
der  the  law  of  contract.  Now  Mr.  Justice  Story  says,  in  the 
Darmouth  College  case,  "  Public  corporations  are  generally  es 
teemed  such  as  exist  for  public  politic  purposes  only,  such  as 
towns,  cities,  parishes  and  counties  ;  and  in  many  respects 
they  are  so,  although  they  involve  some  private  interests ;  but 
strictly  speaking,  public  corporations  are  such  only  as  are 
founded  by  the  Government  for  public  purposes,  where  the 
whole  interests  belong  also  to  the  Government.  If,  therefore, 
the  foundation  be  private,  though  under  the  charter  of  the  Gov 
ernment,  the  corporation  is  private,  however  extensive  the  uses 
may  be  to  which  it  is  devoted,  either  by  the  bounty  of  the 
founder,  or  the  nature  and  objects  of  the  institution.  For  in- 


KEPLY    TO    INGEKSOLL.  169 

stance,  a  bank  created  by  the  Government  for  its  own  uses, 
whose  stock  is  exclusively  owned  by  the  Government,  is,  in  the 
strictest  sense,  a  public  corporation.  So  a  hospital  created 
and  endowed  by  the  Government  for  a  general  charity.  But 
a  bank  whose  stock  is  owned  by  private  persons,  is  a  PRIVATE  cor 
poration,  although  it  is  erected  by  the  Government,  and  its  object 
and  operations  partake  of  a  public  nature" 

In  the  case  of  The  Providence  Bank,  too,  the  court  assume 
a  bank  charter  to  be  a  contract,  not,  as  you  suppose,  for  argu 
ment's  sake,  but  as  a  question  too  plain  for  denial.  The  de 
cision  which  followed — that  a  State  might  tax  a  bank  of  its  own 
creation  notwithstanding  the  contract, — is  not  inconsistent 
with  the  complete  integrity  of  that  contract.  The  taxing  power 
of  the  State  may,  if  wantonly  or  wickedly  used,  be  rendered 
an  instrument  of  vexation  and  even  destruction  to  every  inter 
est  within  its  borders.  It  may  tax  your  house,  your  lands, 
"your  ox,  your  ass,  and  the  stranger  that  is  within  your  gates." 
until  the  first  are  consumed  and  the  latter  are  fled,  and  you 
yourself  are  grown  heart-sick.  The  bare  imaginative  possibility 
of  such  a  mischievous  exertion  of  the  taxing  power,  surely  fur 
nishes  no  argument  that  the  rights  of  property  are  not  held 
sacred  in  the  land : — and  if  it  did,  every  other  interest  is  as 
much  within  the  compass  of  such  an  argument  as  the  corpor 
ate  bodies  :  there  would  be  no  contracts  safe,  no  tenures  in 
violable,  no  rights  beyond  the  reach  of  legislative  power. 

Nor  is  the  deduction  you  make  from  the  right  to  restrain 
the  issue  of  small  notes,  less  untenable.  As  a  bank  charter 
does  not  define  the  specific  denomination  of  notes  which  it  may 
be  lawful  to  issue,  the  character  of  these  issues  is  left  open  to 
that  general  control  of  the  legislature  which  public  policy  may 
render  necessary.  Whenever  that  general  control  is  arbitra 
rily  exercised  with  a  view  to  injure  the  bank,  then  it  becomes 
a  violation  of  the  public  faith.  Doubtless,  every  legislative 
body  possesses  means  of  .annoyance  which  may  be  maliciously 
perverted  to  the  injury  of  every  interest  it  was  intended  to  pro 
tect.  Our  experience,  however,  has  not  yet  shown  us  that  we 
8 


170  POLITICAL    PAPERS. 

may  not  rely  with  entire  safety  upon  the  fidelity  of  our  legisla 
tures  in  the  observance  both  of  the  letter  and  the  spirit  of  their 
contracts. 

But  it  is  not  doing  justice  to  your  argument,  to  exhibit  the 
propositions  I  have  been  last  discussing,  in  the  naked  form  in 
which  I  have  just  presented  them.  I  am  aware  that  the  im 
port  of  your  reasoning  is, 

That  privilege  is  not  property, 

And  that  a  bank  charter  is  not  a  contract, 
in  the  sense  and  understanding  of  that  clause  of  the  Constitution 
of  the  United  States  which  forbids  a  State  to  pass  a  law  impairing 
the  obligation  of  contracts. 

I  designed  to  debate  the  question  with  you,  with  a  full  al 
lowance  of  whatever  value  your  argument  may  derive  from  its 
connection  with  the  sense  of  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States.  But  it  greatly  simplified  and  elucidated  my  view  of 
the  true  interpretation  of  the  Constitution  to  determine,  in  ad 
vance,  whether  " privilege "  intrinsically  be  "property/'  and 
whether,  in  like  manner,  a  bank  charter  intrinsically  be  a  con 
tract.  Because,  in  answer  to  your  view  of  the  constitutional 
clause,  I  wish  to  show  that  that  clause  includes  all  contracts 
— refers  to  all  rights  of  property. 

Your  notion  is,  that  "  the  Constitution  was  not  made  for 
privileges,  and,  in  the  sense  of  the  Constitution,  there  is  no  con 
tract  or  obligation  when  the  object  is  privilege." 

This  brings  into  review  all  that  part  of  your  letter  which 
refers  to  the  argument  founded  on  the  constitutional  interdict. 

The  prohibition  against  passing  a  law  impairing  the  obliga 
tion  of  a  contract,  it  seems  to  me,  you  have  entirely  misunder 
stood.  You  regard  it  as  merely  conventional,  brought  into 
existence,  for  the  first  time,  by  the  Constitution,  and  subject, 
therefore,  to  be  controlled  by  a  strict  and  jealous  interpretation 
of  the  clause,  as  a  thing  in  derogation  of  ordinary  sovereign 
power.  This  is  a  fundamental  error.  The  clause  is  but  a 
declaration  of  the  pre-existing  law  of  morals ;  immutable,  eter 
nal  in  its  nature  ;  — of  higher  authority  than  constitutions  and 


REPLY    TO    IXGERSOLL.  171 

codes ;  paramount,  and  operative  universally  as  the  organic 
law  of  nature,  binding  on  heathen  prince  and  Christian  legisla 
ture,  in  all  times  and  in  all  places  wherever  men  are  united  in 
society.  It  is  as  obligatory  on  the  Federal  Government  as  on 
the  States :  it  is  not  a  power  delegated  to  the  sovereignty  of  the 
Union  :  it  is  not  a  power  reserved  to  the  States.  It  is  not 
malum  prohibitum  merely — it  is  malum  in  se.  It  is  therefore 
to  be  construed  liberally,  according  to  men's  consciences,  as  a 
rule  of  moral  duty :  and  it  was  only  brought  into  the  Constitu 
tion  of  the  United  States,  because,  in  the  troubles  and  embar 
rassments  of  the  revolution,  some  of  the  States  had  forgotten 
or  slighted  this  precept  of  duty,  and  had  committed  this  pecu 
liar  sin.  The  same  considerations  which  urged  this  constitu 
tional  declaration  would,  upon  similar  facts,  have  justified  the 
insertion  in  the  Constitution  of  a  declaration  against  the  in 
fringement  of  each  and  every  law  of  the  decalogue. 

That  is  my  answer  to  all  you  have  said  about  the  distinc 
tion  between  privilege  and  property r,  and  to  all  you  have  urged 
in  reference  to  the  sense  of  the  Constitution  as  it  bears  upon  a 
bank  charter. 

Your  distinction  between  privilege  and  property  was  con 
tended  for  in  the  Dartmouth  College  case.  It  was  weighed 
by  the  court  and  rejected.  I  refer  you  to  the  decision.  It 
will  not  avail  you  to  seek  to  escape  from  the  weight  of  this  de 
cision  by  urging  that  the  Dartmouth  College  case  was  not  ful 
ly  argued  by  counsel,  or  carefully  decided  by  the  court.  It  is 
notorious,  even  if  the  report  of  the  case  did  not  show  it,  that 
no  cause  in  the  Supreme  Court  was  ever  more  ably  discussed, 
and  that  no  decision  of  that  tribunal  was  ever  more  carefully 
made  up.  Read  it  again.  It  is  true,  there  was  one  dissent 
ing  voice : — a  silent  dissent,  against  singularly  luminous  argu 
ments,  pronounced  by  the  greatest  judges  this  country  has  pro 
duced. 

The  same  decision  also  puts  at  rest  the  questions  involved 
in  your  seventeenth  and  eighteenth  propositions.  I  have  quo 
ted  the  passage  which  shows  you  the  opinion  of  the  court  that 


172  POLITICAL    PAPERS. 

the  bank  charter  in  question  creates  a  private  corporation,  as 
contradistinguished  from  a  public  political  one,  and  therefore 
lets  in  upon  it  the  full  benefit  of  the  recognized  law  of  contract, 
with  all  its  attributes  of  inviolability  from  legislative  action.  I 
do  not  perceive  that  this  doctrine  is  impugned  in  either  of  the 
other  cases  you  refer  to.  Neither  do  I  discover  any  objection 
to  this  interpretation  in  the  opinions  of  Luther  Martin  and 
Mr.  Madison,  which  you  rely  upon  as  contemporaneous  and 
historical  commentary.  Mr.  Madison's  language  in  The  Fed 
eralist,  points  to  the  transgressions  I  have  already  spoken  of, 
as  evinced  in  the  early  legislation  of  the  State  Governments. 
He  describes  the  clause  as  designed  "  to  banish  speculations 
on  public  measures,  inspire  a  general  prudence  and  industry, 
and  give  a  regular  course  to  the  business  of  society."  You 
cannot  imagine  how  this  declaration  can  apply  to  the  repeal 
of  a  bank  charter.  I  ask  you,  in  return,  why  not?  Have 
there  been,  or  may  there  be,  no  speculations  upon  the  repeal  of  the 
bank  charter  of  Pennsylvania  by  the  convention:  and,  if  your  doc 
trines  be  sound,  will  there  not  be  such  speculations  ?  May  not 
these  speculations,  within  their  sphere,  repress  the  "general 
prudence  and  industry  ;"  may  they  not  interrupt  the  "  regular 
course  of  the  business  of  society  ?"  I  need  not  hesitate  upon  the 
answer  of  every  dispassionate  man  to  these  questions.  I  can 
conceive  nothing  more  likely,  if  your  philosophy  gain  the  assent 
of  the  convention,  than  that  Pennsylvania  may  largely  expe 
rience  the  evils  which  Mr.  Madison  attributed  to  the  sudden 
changes  and  legislative  interferences  in  cases  affecting  personal 
rights,"  becoming  jobs  in  the  hands  of  enterprising  and  influen 
tial  speculators,  and  snares  to  the  more  industrious  and  less 
informed  part  of  the  community.  And  this  is  the  comprehen 
sive  language  in  which  he  assigns  the  motive  for  introducing 
that  clause  into  the  Constitution. 

It  is  vain  to  contend  for  the  narrow  restriction  of  Mr. 
Madison's  phrase  "  personal  rights,"  by  which  you  would  ex 
clude  the  rights  under  a  charter.  I  cannot  perceive  the  force 
of  the  exclusion.  The  rights  of  a  charter  contract  are  as 


REPLY    TO    INGEKSOLL.  173 

much  personal  to  the  possessor  of  them  as  your  right  to  vote 
in  an  election,  or  your  right  to  the  house  you  live  in.  If  this 
be  not  so,  then  every  charter  for  every  purpose,  is,  in  your 
view,  at  the  mercy  of  the  Government. 

The  nineteenth  proposition  is  but  a  piece  of  declamation. 
And  I  will,  conversely  with  what  you  have  there  said,  predict 
that  Pennsylvania  will  continue  to  be  a  State, — and  a  great 
State, — although  she  religiously  performs  every  contract  that 
she  makes.  All  the  attributes  of  her  sovereignty  will  remain 
to  her, — and  they  will  even  derive  a  lustre  from  her  scrupu 
lous  adherence  to  the  integrity  of  her  faith.  Canal  boats 
will  ply,  and  children  will  be  taught  their  alphabets,  in  spite 
of  Nicholas  Biddle  and  the  bank.  They  will  ply  the  faster, 
and  penetrate  farther  into  your  teeming  land,  and  the  young 
urchins  of  your  country  school-houses  will  show  many  more 
shining  faces  (you  have  room  for  improvement  there),  by  the 
very  aid  of  this  Polyphemus  and  his  keeper  : — 

Let  Hercules  himself,  do  what  lie  may, 
The  cat  will  mew,  the  dog  will  have  liis  day. 

I  have  nothing  to  say  in  reference  to  what  you  call  "  reasons 
of  a  more  abstract  character,"  the  sum  of  which  constitutes 
the  last  link  in  that  chain  of  assertions  which  makes  up  the 
total  of  your  argument.  They  are  mere  speculations  opposed 
to  the  whole  current  of  precept  and  practice,  by  which  our 
Governments,  State  and  Federal,  have  been  guided  ever  since 
their  establishment.  And  leaving  you  at  liberty  to  indulge 
your  vein  of  radical  reform  in  as  many  fancies  of  this  nature 
as  may  satisfy  your  utmost  craving  for  innovation,  I  abandon 
the  further  consideration  of  your  argument,  to  indulge  in  some 
general  remarks  which  the  occasion  seems  to  invite. 

There  is  a  spirit  abroad,  at  this  time,  which  affects  me 
with  alarm.  Its  temper  is  revolutionary,  studious  of  changes 
which  lead  from  good  to  ill.  Our  ancient  institutions, — an 
cient  for  us, — are,  in  computation  of  the  new  philosophy, 
founded  in  false  views  of  human  right,  and  in  misapprehension 


174  POLITICAL    PAPERS. 

of  the  interests  of  mankind.  I  will  not  say  that  the  sagacity 
of  statesmen  may  find  nothing  in  these  institutions  worthy  of 
reform,  or  that  the  increasing  demands  of  our  larger  popula 
tion  may  not  require  some  amendments.  But  I  confess  I  like 
not  the  hazard  of  these  broad  experiments.  As  a  general  rule,  I 
would  rather  see  the  people  accommodate  themselves  to  the  old 
forms  of  government,  than  join  the  endeavor  to  mould  these 
forms  to  the  perpetually  changing  fashions  of  the  day.  Many 
wise  men  have  doubted,  whether  in  the  last  fifty  years  a  State 
Constitution  has  come  out  of  the  hands  of  a  convention  better 
than  it  went  into  them.  It  seldom  happens  when  once  the 
flood-gates  of  reform  are  opened,  that  they  can  be  shut  down 
at  that  precise  moment  when  all  the  contemplated  good  is  ob 
tained.  Nor  is  it  always  the  well  ascertained  wants  of  the 
people  which  dictate  these  movements :  they  owe  their  origin 
as  often  to  the  zeal  and  ambition  of  leaders  and  the  sinister 
designs  of  party.  The  people  are  not  unfrequently  cajoled 
by  specious  misrepresentations  ;  false  pretences  are  held  out 
by  flippant  aspirants  after  power  ;  gross  deceits  are  practised 
to  diffuse  an  opinion,  that  the  operations  of  our  State  Govern 
ments  are  hostile  to  the  common  interest ;  and  the  less  in 
formed  and  easier-led  portions  of  our  population  are  per 
suaded  that  some  vital  wrong  is  done  them  by  a  course  of  leg 
islation  which,  if  it  have  any  defect,  is  mainly  that  which 
springs  out  of  the  incompetency  and  ignorance  of  the  repre 
sentatives  they  have  themselves  chosen.  I  may  say  it  without 
being  charged  with  disrespect  to  our  public  bodies,  that  they 
are  not  always  composed  of  the  most  intelligent  citizens,  and 
that  the  great  interests  of  the  community  are  not  invariably  as 
ably  represented  as  so  high  and  grave  a  function  of  govern 
ment  requires.  But  while  the  fundamental  law  is  preserved 
we  can  afford  to  lose  an  occasional  advantage  from  its  unskil 
ful  administration,  being  sufficiently  secure  in  the  incompar 
ably  greater  privilege  which  that  law  holds  in  reserve  for  our 
enjoyment.  Yet  I  cannot  but  feel  that  if  the  ordinary  legis 
lation  of  the  day  is  subject  to  the  hazards  of  this  incompe- 


REPLY    TO    INGEESOLL.  175 

tency,  society  at  large  has  much  reason  to  dread  the  infinitely 
more  momentous  hazard  of  the  same  want  of  ability  when  it 
assumes  to  break  up  the  long-established  and  familiar  con 
stitutional  maxims,  and  to  substitute  in  their  place  the  new 
and  crude  doctrines  which  are  generally  suggested  in  the  zeal 
of  reform.  I  would  rather  see  amendments  gradually  glide 
into  the  Constitution,  under  the  slow  process  of  experience, 
than  turned  in  upon  it  in  that  flood  which  is  the  sure  result 
of  bringing  together  one  of  those  conventions  which,  in  the 
phrase  lately  brought  into  vogue,  is  said  "  to  resolve  society 
into  its  elements,"  and  which  is  called  by  one  of  high  au 
thority  in  the  ranks  of  radicalism,  "  the  provided  machinery 
of  peaceful  revolution" — "  the  civilized  substitute  for  intestine 
war." 

These  observations  have  a  peculiar  application  to  those 
States  which  have  provided  a  specific  mode  for  altering  their 
Constitutions  without  resorting  to  a  convention :  although 
they  are  not  without  weight  in  reference  to  all, — for  even 
where  a  convention  is  the  only  method  through  which  amend 
ments  are  to  be  procured,  such  a  resort  should  only  be  had 
upon  a  strong  and  well-settled  conviction  of  its  necessity, 
fortified  by  the  large  concurrence — the  almost  universal  appro 
bation  of  the  citizens.  A  bare  majority  of  voters  in  the  State 
should  never  be  allowed  to  dictate  a  measure  so  fraught  with 
the  power  of  doing  harm  as  well  as  good.  If  the  purpose  be 
wise,  my  confidence  in  the  good  sense  of  the  people  assures 
me  that  they  will  speak  with  almost  a  single  voice  in  its  favor ; 
they  will  call  for  it  from  every  quarter  of  the  State  :  that  they 
do  not  so  call  for  it  and  manifest  this  unanimity,  would  be  to 
me  an  insurmountable  objection  to  its  adoption.  I  am  not 
willing  to  trust  the  determination  of  so  vital  an  interest  to  a 
small  majority. 

We  have  cause  to  be  jealous  of  the  hands  to  which  we 
entrust  power.  Your  letter,  upon  which  I  have  already  com 
mented,  is  one  among  a  thousand  evidences  why  we  have 
cause  to  be  jealous.  It  teaches  us  that  highly  educated,  ex- 


176  POLITICAL    PAPERS. 

perienced  and  accomplished  men  may  be  fired  with  a  mis 
chievous  ardor  of  innovation.  I  will  surrender  my  birth-right, 
as  a  citizen  of  the  State  in  which  I  live,  to  no  bare  numerical 
majority  of  the  people,  any  more  than  I  would  surrender  it 
to  a  crowned  king.  When  the  people  of  my  native  State 
with  one  consent,  or  with  such  general  voice  as  leaves  me  no 
doubt  that  the  sober  and  discreet,  as  well  as  the  rash  and 
reckless,  have  asked  for  such  a  surrender,  I  will  not  hesitate 
to  comply,  because  then  I  shall  know  that  wisdom  will  prevail 
in  the  counsels  of  the  convention,  and  that  my  rights  may  be 
safely  deposited  in  the  hands  of  those  who  are  to  modify 
them. 

The  claim  that  has  been  set  up  in  Maryland  falls  far  short 
of  this  requisition.  The  revolution  attempted  here  had  not 
even  a  bare  majority  to  sustain  it.  It  began  and  ended  with 
a  few  intemperate  politicians.  There  was  no  sturdy  reserve 
of  the  people  behind  the  leaders,  and  the  abortive  design  fell 
with  a  dead  weight  back  upon  its  projectors,  and  crushed 
them  into  the  dust.  It  had  no  shape,  no  features,  no  head. 
There  was  not  even  an  ultimate  plan  devised  :  nothing  was 
concerted  but  the  mere  act  of  mischief,  which  consisted  in 
breaking  up  the  present  Government  by  a  futile  scheme  of 
treachery  to  a  public  trust ; — all  the  rest  was  left  to  chance  ; 
and  whether  another  Government  was  to  be  arranged, — whether 
even  these  bold  reformers  themselves  could  strike  out  a  plan 
which  would  not  have  bred  a  quarrel  in  their  own  ranks,  was 
a  doubt,  the  solution  of  which  was  shrouded  in  the  unknown 
future.  Yet  such  was  the  course  of  proceeding  which  a  bare 
majority  is  said  to  have  sanctioned.  It  is  but  the  type  of 
what  will  be  the  fate  of  all  endeavors  in  the  States  of  this 
Union  to  assert  the  right  of  such  a  majority  to  subvert  the 
foundations  of  the  communities  in  which  they  live. 

I  understand  government  to  be  designed  as  much  for  the 
protection  of  the  smaller  number  of  citizens  as  for  the  larger : 
even,  if  possible,  more  for  their  protection,  since  the  majority  can 
always  protect  itself.  The  philosophy  of  the  times  repudiates 


REPLY    TO    INGERSOLL.  177 

this  doctrine  as  a  heresy.  It  contends  for  the  supreme  and 
absolute  power  of  a  majority  to  change  and  abrogate  the  or 
ganic  power  at  pleasure.  It  does  not  admit  those  inherent,  in 
defeasible  and  inalienable  rights  of  the  individual  citizen,  of 
which,  at  the  formation  of  our  Governments,  our  forefathers 
were  wont  to  speak.  All  must  give  way  to  the  declared  will 
of  a  marshalled  and  counted  majority  of  voters.  It  is  not 
enough  that  the  laws  pursuant  to  the  Constitution,  and  pro 
posed  in  the  course  of  its  administration,  are  passed  by  the 
agency  of  a  majority  of  votes  ascertained  in  the  popular  elec 
tion  ; — but  the  Constitution  itself  is  to  be  acted  on,  overthrown 
and  abandoned  upon  even  a  less  formal  process  For  an  or 
dinary  law  requires  the  assent  of  two  deliberative  bodies  before 
it  goes  into  operation  : — the  fundamental  law  in  the  hands  of  a 
convention,  depends  upon  the  assent  of  but  one  set  of  repre 
sentatives  of  a  part  of  the  people. 

The  liberty  and  rights  of  an  American  citizen  reside  under 
the  protection  of  this  fundamental  law.  He  can  appeal  to  it 
against  any  act  of  oppression  which  may  be  perpetrated  against 
his  person  or  his  property  even  by  the  legislature  itself.  It  is 
his  Magna  Charta,  which  is  above  the  assault  of  any  combina 
tion  in  the  land. 

It  is  said  of  the  Grecian  republics  that  they  differed  from 
ours  in  one  great  feature.  They  were  Democracies  of  the  most 
simple  structure.  The  public  will  was  in  all  cases  the  public 
law,  and  its  characteristic  action  was  to  magnify  and  enlarge 
the  power  of  the  State  to  the  utter  disregard  of  the  individual. 
History  teaches  us  that  no  despotism  of  any  modern  govern 
ment  was  ever  so  absolute  as  the  despotism  of  these  govern 
ments  over  the  citizen.  In  the  presence  of  that  tremendous 
power  of  a  majority,  the  individual  was  politically  motionless. 
He  was  obliged  to  submit  to  its  capricious  decrees  in  humble 
silence.  He  had  no  bill  of  rights  to  appeal  to  ;  no  friend  in 
the  written  fundamental  law  of  the  State  to  stay  the  fierce 
hand  of  popular  vengeance,  which  inflicted  upon  him  whatever 
injury  the  misguided  fury  of  the  moment  ordained.  If  the  bill 


ITS  POLITICAL    PAPERS. 

of  rights  of  the  people  of  these  States  are  to  be  torn  into  tat 
ters  at  the  bidding  of  a  majority  merely,  how  do  we  differ  from 
the  republics  to  which  I  have  alluded  ?  And  what  guaranty 
have  we  that  the  new  form  of  government  shall  not  share  the 
fate  of  the  old,  with  every  alternate  victory  of  party  which  may 
present  an  occasion  of  discontent  against  the  Constitution 
which  perchance  had  aided  the  former  success  of  the  van 
quished.  "  That  government  can  scarcely  be  deemed  to  be 
free,"  says  the  Supreme  Court,  in  the  case  of  Wilkinson  and 
Leland,  "  where  the  rights  of  property  are  left  solely  dependent 
upon  the  will  of  a  legislative  body  without  any  restraint.  The 
fundamental  maxims  of  a  free  government  seem  to  require 
that  the  rights  of  personal  liberty  and  private  property  should 
be  held  sacred."  This  remark  is  strictly  applicable  to  such  a 
Convention  as  I  have  been  speaking  of.  Does  not  an  assem 
blage  so  created,  with  the  powers  assumed  to  belong  to  it,  an 
swer  to  the  description  of  "  a  legislative  body  without  any  re 
straint  ?  How  does  it  differ  in  the  character  of  its  origin  from 
any  ordinary  legislature,  except  in  the  very  dangerous  feature 
of  a  looser  organization,  and  less  caution  in  its  structure  ?  It 
is  elected  by  a  mere  majority  of  the  voters  :  it  springs  from 
the  dictation  of  a  part,  a  small  part,  of  the  constituent  body : 
it  is  subject  to  no  veto  from  a  co-ordinate  authority,  or  from 
an  executive ;  it  is  under  no  restraint  of  a  judiciary ;  and  in 
these  latter  features  is  even  less  guarded  than  the  common 
law-making  power.  It  has  no  constitutional  maxims  pre 
scribed  for  its  action,  no  fundamental  law  by  which  to  bound 
its  excursions.  The  very  men  who  constitute  the  popular 
branch  of  a  State  legislature  may  be  resolved  into  a  Conven 
tion,  by  a  mere  change  of  name.  The  American  people  have 
heretofore  thought  that  it  was  not  safe  to  their  liberties  to 
clothe  a  legislative  body  with  unlimited  power,  and  they  there 
fore  have  declared  what  they  consider  their  inalienable  rights^ 
and  have  prohibited  the  legislature  from  assailing  them.  Can 
it  be  supposed  that  they  would  submit  to  the  pernicious  anom 
aly  of  allowing  a  simple  change  in  the  name  of  the  body  to 


REPLY    TO    INGERSOLL.  179 

work  the  miracle  of  overthrowing  all  these  inestimable  rights, 
upon  which  their  liberties  have  been  founded  ?  When  a  Con 
vention  is  necessary  it  must  be  a  Convention  of  the  people,  not 
of  the  majority  of  the  people.  It  must  be  of  such  a  majority 
as  leaves  no  doubt  of  that  general  acquiescence  which  may  be 
called  the  common  wish,  the  almost  universal  demand,  of  the 
people.  The  very  idea  of  a  Convention  of  the  people  excludes 
that  of  a  small  majority.  When  a  Government  is  found  abso 
lutely  inadequate  to  the  promotion  of  the  happiness  of  the 
State,  and  when  the  ordinary  appointed  modes  of  amendment 
have  failed  to  cure  the  defect,  doubtless  the  people  may  re 
sume  their  sovereignty.  But  it  must  be  the  people,  and  not 
merely  a  part  of  the  people.  And  knowing  as  we  do  the  sensi 
tiveness  of  the  citizens  of  these  republics  to  all  such  vital  in 
terests,  we  may  be  certain  that  whenever  such  a  condition  of 
things  exists  as  may  render  this  resumption  of  sovereignty  ne 
cessary  in  any  State,  the  people  will  not  move  towards  the  ac 
complishment  of  their  object  in  small  numbers,  nor  evince 
their  will  by  a  bare  majority.  It  will  be  by  general  acclaim. 

We  have  in  Maryland  a  white  population  which  may  be 
estimated  at  400,000  inhabitants  ;  of  these  about  one  eighth, 
or  50,000,  are  entitled  to  vote.  Not  more  than  40,000  ever 
go  to  the  polls, — perhaps  not  so  many.  21,000  votes  would, 
on  this  supposition,  give  a  majority  of  one  thousand.  Can  it 
be  pretended  that  these  2 1,000  votes  are  entitled,  through  the 
instrumentality  of  a  convention,  to  control  and  abrogate  the 
fundamental  law  of  the  State  ?  to  enact,  at  their  pleasure,  a 
code  "  as  bloody  as  that  of  Draco  ?"  to  deprive  a  citizen  of 
his  right  of  trial  by  jury  ?  to  strip  him  of  the  privilege  of  wor 
shipping  his  God  according  to  the  dictates  of  his  conscience  ? 
to  break  down  and  utterly  annihilate  the  tenures  of  property  ? 
to  abolish  the  privilege  of  the  habeas  corpus  ?  to  disqualify 
and  limit,  at  their  sovereign  will,  my  right  to  vote  for  public 
servants  ?  to  usurp  all  the  powers,  faculties  and  privileges  of 
the  people — and,  in  short,  to  declare  themselves  to  be  exclusively 
the  people? 


POLITICAL    TAPERS. 

Take  one  thousand  of  these  votes  away  from  them,  and 
give  them  to  the  other  side,  and  they  are  no  longer  this  omnip 
otent  body.  Their  whole  power  depends  upon  this  thousan^ 
votes.  It  is  unfortunately  true  of  every  community  that  there 
are  men  among  them  who  have  no  capacity  to  judge  of  the 
value  of  public  measures  ;  who  are  swayed  by  the  influence  of 
others ;  whose  habits  of  life  are  adverse  to  reflection  and  tem 
perate  judgment ;  who  follow  the  lead  of  party  without  stop 
ping  to  inquire  into  the  merits  of  the  proceeding  they  are  ex 
pected  to  sanction  :  men  who  have  the  least  possible  stake  at 
issue  upon  the  question  of  good  government,  and  who  think 
little  and  care  less  what  may  be  the  consequences  of  their 
vote.  These  are  the  very  men  who  may  determine  the  ques 
tion  of  a  majority.  They  may  be  the  "  thousand"  upon  whose 
vote  rests  the  assumption  of  that  unlimited  power  by  which  a 
convention  is  to  pronounce  the  fundamental  law  naught. 

These  21,000  make  up,  in  the  case  supposed,  the  whole 
constituent  body.  They  assume  to  speak  for  themselves,  and 
for  the  remaining  379,000  inhabitants.  How  shall  we  know 
that  they  speak  truly  and  authentically  for  this  mass  of  the 
population  who  are  all  to  be  affected  by  their  decrees?  They 
are  but  little  more  than  one-twentieth  of  the  whole  in  point  of 
numbers :  they  may  not  represent  the  one-hundredth  part  of 
the  property  of  the  community,  which  is  to  be  subject  to  their 
laws  ;  and  they  may  not  possess  a  tithe  of  the  intelligence  and 
wisdom  of  the  State.  They  may  be  but  a  mere  party  seeking 
a  party  end. 

Then  again,  as  these  are  the  constituent  body,  there  ema 
nates  from  them  a  body  of  representatives  to  compose  the 
convention  ;  and  these  representatives,  by  virtue  of  their  del 
egated  power,  in  their  turn,  assume  to  be  THE  STATE — the 
fountain  of  the  sovereign  pleasure.  The  have  perhaps  agitated 
ten  questions  before  the  people ;  and,  on  pretence  of  adjust 
ing  details,  they  act  upon  a  hundred  which  the  people  have 
never  heard  of.  Some  of  this  handful  of  men  are  ambitious 
of  distinction,  busy  politicians  who  have  practised  the  usual 


REPLY    TO    INGERSOLL.  181 

arts  of  popularity  for  their  own  aggrandizement ;  and  having 
attained  their  end  of  getting  into  the  convention,  they  fall  into 
all  the  little  intrigues  of  the  day  to  secure  their  own  pre-'emi- 
nence ;  foment  prejudices  against  valuable  institutions  and 
individuals  ;  mature  and  strengthen  the  schemes  of  their  party, 
and  play  off,  in  matters  of  the  highest  concern  to  human 
liberty,  the  miserable  tricks  which  often  disgrace  the  common 
legislation  of  the  day.  Even  this  body  of  representatives,  re 
mote  as  they  are  from  the  great  bulk  of  the  population, — from 
that  mass  of  inhabitants  who  are  disqualified  from  a  share  in 
public  concerns  by  age  or  sex,  or  who  have  voted  against  the 
convention,  constituting  an  aggregate  of  nineteen-twentieths 
of  the  State,  in  the  case  I  have  supposed, — even  these  repre 
sentatives  are  not,  in  their  integral  number,  the  depository  of 
the  fearful  power  which  is  to  break  down  and  build  up  the 
fundamental  law  at  its  pleasure  ;  a  simple  majority  of  their  own 
number  is  absolute — the  sole  and  uncontrollable  sovereign. 
And  thus  it  may  be,  that  the  representatives  of  a  fraction, 
little  exceeding  the  fortieth  part  of  the  whole  body  politic, 
sway  the  destiny  of  all. 

Let  me  not  be  told  of  the  after-concurrence  of  the  people, 
when  the  proceedings  of  the  convention  are  submitted  to  their 
ratification  and  adoption.  The  theory  is  equally  omnipotent 
there.  The  same  twenty-one  thousand  votes  are  all-sufficient 
for  the  process  of  ratification. 

Was  it  ever  designed  by  the  fathers  of  our  polity  that  the 
sacred  rights  of  free  communities  were  to  be  made  the  sport 
of  such  combinations  ? 

There  are  some  of  the  States,  and  Pennsylvania,  I  believe, 
is  one,  which  have  made  no  provision  for  amendments  of  the 
Constitution  but  through  a  convention.  In  such  cases,  the 
convention  is  a  recognized  instrument  under  the  Constitution  ; 
— it  is  a  part  of  the  written  compact  of  government  provided 
for  in  advance,  and  adopted  from  choice.  But  such  a  conven 
tion,  I  apprehend,  must  emanate  from  the  legislation  of  the 
State,  and  be  subject,  in  its  organization,  to  the  law  of  its  crea- 


182  POLITICAL    PAPERS. 

tion.  With  this  restriction  it  has,  at  least,  a  chance  of  being 
duly  matured,  of  having  its  expediency  discussed,  and  the  limit 
of  its  action  prescribed — precautions  which  go  far  to  disarm  it 
of  a  power  to  do  mischief,  and  to  erect  it  upon  a  broader  basis 
than  a  mere  majority. 

When  I  began  these  strictures  upon  your  letter,  I  told  you 
that  I  was  induced  to  take  up  my  pen  from  considerations  of 
a  domestic  nature.  The  topics  I  have  brought  into  view  are, 
at  this  moment,  eminently  interesting  to  the  people  of  Maryland. 
— I  have  that  apology  to  plead  for  their  introduction  here  ;  and 
I  trust  they  will  not  be  deemed  out  of  place,  even  in  their 
reference  to  the  great  movement  for  a  convention  in  Pennsyl 
vania.  It  is  not  to  defend  the  banks,  that  I  have  written. 
The  policy  of  multiplying  or  suppressing  these  institutions  I 
leave  to  those  in  every  State  who  are  charged  with  the  duty  of 
taking  care  of  the  public  interest.  The  legislation  of  late 
years  may  have  been  improvident  on  these  subjects  •  although, 
I  confess,  I  am  not  one  of  those  who  unite  in  the  common  com 
plaints  against  them.  I  think  they  have  done  much  good  and 
may  do  much  more.  In  a  nation  so  essentially  gifted  with  the 
means  of  extensive  credit  as  the  United  States,  I  can  see  no 
reason  for  denying  to  our  citizens  every  facility  which  may 
make  that  credit  a  source  of  wealth.  To  my  mind,  it  appears 
the  mainspring  of  that  bountiful  prosperity  which  adorns  our 
land.  It  is  emphatically  the  poor  man's  friend  and  the  labor 
er's  refuge.  It  sets  in  motion  that  infinite  industry  which 
brings  content  and  joy  into  the  workman's  cottage,  and  lifts 
him  up  to  competency  and  comfort.  Neither  do  I  look  with 
an  unfriendly  eye  upon  the  large  accumulations  of  capital 
which  are  the  source  of  the  enterprise,  influence  and  luxury 
of  our  more  fortunate  and  wealthy  citizens.  They  are  centres  of 
reinforcement  to  the  mechanics'  thrift :  reservoirs  from  which 
every  class  of  citizens  may  find  the  means  of  providing  against 
v/ant  and  gathering  independence.  By  the  agency  of  these 
accumulations  all  ranks  are  linked  together  in  mutual  affinities, 
which,  but  for  the  incessant  revilings  and  falsehoods  of  selfish 


REPLY   TO    INGERSOLL.  183 

candidates  for  popular  favor,  would  engender  mutual  harmony 
and  good  will.  Above  all,  I  cannot  adopt  what  I  consider  the 
cant  of  the  day,  against  the  danger  of  corporate  bodies.  I 
have  said  before  that  I  held  them  to  be  not  only  harmless 
creations,  but  the  instruments  of  great  and  permanent  good 
to  the  country.  I  think  it  time  that  this  false  and  undeserved 
vituperation  should  be  brought  to  public  discussion,  and  that 
the  country  should  be  invited  to  a  more  impartial  and  calm  sur 
vey  of  the  question  than,  in  the  hurry  of  our  busy  legislation,  it 
has  yet  obtained. 

I  believe,  moreover,  steadfastly  and  unfalteringly  believe, 
in  the  integrity  of  the  great  body  of  the  American  people ;  in 
their  attachment  to  the  true  principles  of  rational  liberty  ;  in 
their  .intelligence  and  wisdom :  and,  therefore,  amidst  all  the 
feaiful  signs  of  the  present  day,  the  rages  of  innovation,  the 
censure  of  fundamental  law,  the  invective  against  established 
custom  ;  amidst  all  the  pranks  of  low  ambition,  the  wiles  of 
demagogues,  the  allurements  of  radicalism  and  the  misrepre 
sentations  of  party,  I  still  trust  that,  no  less  than  in  1792,  we 
shall  continue  to  deserve  the  panegyric  pronounced  by  Erskine, 
and  which  I  have  prefixed  as  the  motto  of  this  imperfect  essay. 

"  I  aver  that  at  this  moment,  there  is  as  sacred  a  regard  for 
property,  as  inviolable  a  security  to  all  the  rights  of  individuals, 
lower  taxes,  fewer  grievances,  less  to  deplore,  and  more  to  ad 
mire,  in  the  Constitution  of  America,  than  that  of  any  other 
country  under  heaven. " 

A  CITIZEN  OF  MARYLAND. 

December  24,  1836. 


184:  POLITICAL    PAPERS. 


SPEECH 

DELIVERED  IN  THE  HOUSE  OF  REPRESENTATIVES,  ON  THE  22D 
AND  23D  JUNE,  1838,  IN  THE  DEBATE  ON  THE  SUB- 
TREASURY  BILL. 

MR.  CHAIRMAN  : — I  did  not  believe,  until  within  a  few 
days  past,  that  the  gentlemen  who  have  taken  charge 
of  this  bill,  would  have  again  pressed  its  consideration  on  the 
House.  I  thought,  sir,  that  under  the  admonition  of  public 
sentiment  which  has  recently,  through  so  many  channels,  been 
conveyed  to  the  ear  of  the  administration,  this  Sub-Treasury 
Scheme  would  be  regarded  as  a  doomed  and  foregone  expe 
dient,  stamped  in  advance  with  the  reprobation  of  the  country, 
and  no  longer  to  be  entertained  in  discussion  here.  Never, 
in  the  history  of  this  Government,  has  there  been  presented  a 
public  measure,  in  reference  to  which  the  wishes  of  the  constit 
uent  body  have  been  more  explicitly  communicated  to  the 
representative  ;  it  has  been  canvassed  by  the  people  with  a 
scrupulous  deliberation  ;  it  has  been  investigated  by  them 
with  all  that  care  which  a  painful  sense  of  present  evil  could 
suggest,  and  they  have  expressed  their  disapprobation  of  it  in 
every  form  in  which  they  were  able  to  find  a  voice.  I  did  not 
suppose  that  with  the  principles  by  which  the  friends  of  the 
administration  in  this  body  affect  to  be  governed,  they  could 
have  brought  themselves  so  far  to  resist  that  voice  as  again  to 
propose  the  bill.  I  thought  indeed,  sir,  that  the  late  action 
of  Congress,  in  the  almost  unanimous  and  even  eager  repeal 
of  the  Treasury  order  of  July,  1836,  would  be  construed  as  a 
decisive  sentence  against  this  measure.  I  cannot  understand 


THE    SUB-TREASURY.  185 

how  that  repeal  and  this  bill  may  consist  with  each  other,  and 
I  should  be  glad  to  hear  some  intelligible  reconcilement  of  the 
two.  It  is  true  that  the  joint  resolution  to  which  I  refer  does 
not  in  express  terms  repeal  the  Treasury  circular  ;  but  it  ac 
complishes  the  same  end,  quite  as  effectually,  by  forbidding 
the  secretary  to  discriminate  in  the  moneys  he  receives  for 
public  dues  ;  and  as  he  has  kindly  volunteered  to  say  that  he 
will  not  refuse  good  bank  paper  for  the  customs,  he  is  no 
longer  at  liberty  to  refuse  it  for  public  lands,  and  so  we  have 
in  fact  repealed  that  noxious  treasury  order  which  has  so  long 
annoyed  the  country. 

That  order  being  out  of  the  way,  I  would  ask  to  what  ele 
ments  may  all  this  machinery  of  the  Sub-Treasury  apply  ?  Is 
it  necessary  to  build  vaults,  and  construct  safes,  and  create  all 
the  agencies  designated  in  this  bill  to  guard  a  few  rolls  of 
bank  paper  ?  The  apparatus  of  this  scheme  essentially  be 
longs  to  the  gold  and  silver  reign,  it  deals  only  in  coin,  and 
has  its  existence  and  daily  continuance  in  the  phantasmagoria 
of  the  hard-money  system.  The  moment  you  abandon  the 
absolute  coined  metal,  your  Treasury  System  becomes  a  sys 
tem  of  credit  in  account,  impalpable  to  the  guardianship  of 
stone  and  iron,  unamenable  to  lock  and  key  ;  it  rests  upon 
the  personal  fidelity  and  integrity  of  your  agents.  How  shall 
the  details  of  this  bill  apply  to  it  ? 

Mr.  Chairman,  I  especially  regret  that  this  bill  has  been 
brought  forward  at  this  time,  because  I  know  that  a  most 
happy  conviction  began  to  gain  ground  with  the  public,  that  it 
was  now  the  purpose  of  the  administration  to  bring  itself 
within  the  range  of  the  business  and  wants  of  the  community, 
to  take  a  position  in  which  it  might  sympathize  with  the  peo 
ple,  and  if  not  actually  extend  its  aid,  at  least  abandon  its 
indifference  to  their  distresses  ;  that  it  meant  now  to  give  up  its 
war  against  the  currency  \  to  cast  aside  its  experiments,  de 
vices  and  jejune  expedients,  and  to  address  itself  honestly, 
with  the.  lights  of  past  experience,  to  the  actual  need  of  the 
nation.  This  hope  was  vivified  by  the  late  repeal  of  the  cir- 


POLITICAL    PAPERS. 

cular,  it  had  gained  gradual  strength  by  the  long  slumber  of 
this  Sub-Treasury  bill,  it  was  corroborated  by  the  unwonted 
tone  of  toleration  in  which  many  of  the  friends  of  the  admin 
istration,  in  both  Houses  of  Congress,  have  lately  spoken  of 
the  banks,  and  by  the  awakening  good  sense  with  which  they 
have  derided  and  renounced  the  singular  folly  of  the  hard- 
money  imposture.  The  people  had  therefore  begun  to  turn 
their  faces  towards  the  dawn  of  happier  times,  and  to  promise 
themselves  a  speedy  restoration  of  that  prosperity  which  had 
been  denied  them  only  by  the  unwise  action  of  their  own  gov 
ernment  The  very  agitation  of  this  measure,  in  the  midst 
of  these  joyfal  hopes,  has  struck  despondency  deep  into  the 
bosom  of  the  trading  classes,  and  the  people  now  watch  your 
proceedings  here  with  renewed  alarm  and  anxious  suspense  : 
they  daily  ask  in  a  tone  of  wonder,  can  it  be  true  that  you 
design  to  perpetrate  the  enormity  of  putting  this  odious  sys 
tem  upon  the  country  ? 

The  zeal  with  which  the  bill  is  urged  leaves  no  room  to 
doubt  the  sincere  desire  of  its  projectors  to  carry  it  into  effect, 
and  I  have  heard  that  its  friends  entertain  hopes  of  its  pas 
sage.  Such  a  result  may  possibly  demonstrate  the  power  of  a 
majority  on  this  floor,  and  show  that  here,  at  least,  notwith 
standing  the  general  revolt  of  the  nation,  the  banner  of  the 
administration,  torn  as  it  has  been  in  recent  conflicts,  is  still 
upheld  by  men  bold  enough  to  defy  the  almost  universal  pop 
ular  voice.  That  struggle  will  yield  but  a  worthless  triumph 
whose  greatest  success  can  have  no  better  end  than  to  con 
tinue,  for  a  brief  space,  the  oppressions  of  a  po»ver  against 
which  public  judgment  is  accumulating  its  censure,  with  fresh 
and  still  fresher  indignation,  and  which  is  surely  doomed  to 
be  prostrated  by  those  overwhelming  bursts  of  indignation  of 
which  the  administration  have  already  had  a  foretaste. 

Mr.  Chairman,  this  bill  assumes  to  be  remedial  in  its 
character.  It  arises  out  of  the  suggestion  of  the  President, 
made  at  a  time  when  he  had  called  Congress  together,  to  de 
liberate  upon  a  great  national  convulsion  which  had  brought 


THE    SUB-TREASURY.  1ST 

disaster  into  every  class  of  society.  It  may  be  said  to  have 
been  the  only  topic  of  consideration  at  that  moment :  it  was 
the  only  relief  proposed.  Although  the  afflictions  of  that  day 
are  passing  away,  still  they  are  yet  severely  felt,  and  this 
measure  is  again  presented,  as  at  first  it  was,  as  a  measure 
of  relief.  In  that  view  I  mean  to  discuss  it,  and  to  test  its 
adequacy  to  its  proposed  object,  by  calling  the  attention  of  the 
committee  to  the  origin  and  nature  of  the  evils  which  it  is  de 
signed  to  remedy. 

Sir,  I  was  somewhat  curious  to  know  upon  what  grounds  it 
would  be  advocated  here,  as  a  measure  of  relief,  and  I  have 
therefore  listened  to  the  debate  with  eager  attention.  On  one 
side  of  the  house  I  have  found  the  Chairman  of  the  Committee 
of  Ways  and  Means,  the  foster-parent  of  the  bill,  a  thorough-go 
ing  State-bank  advocate — even  carrying  his  predictions  for 
banking  to  what  I  should  call  a  point  of  ultraism.  But  a  few 
weeks  ago,  when  the  Treasury-note  bill  was  under  discussion, 
he  opened  that  debate  with  congratulations  upon  the  returning 
prosperity  of  the  country,  and  with  the  declaration  that  the 
great  license  of  free  banking,  which  had  just  been  granted  by 
the  legislature  of  New  York,  marked  an  era  in  the  history  of 
our  country  from  which  we  were  to  derive  a  permanent  and  sol 
id  restoration  of  health  and  strength.  This  new  free  banking 
with  its  expected  millions — even  fifty  or  a  hundred — was  now 
to  be  superadded  to  the  present  banking  system  of  New  York 
and  the  country,  in  his  opinion,  was  to  thrive  under  that  im 
pulse  beyond  all  former  example.  Such,  sir,  was  the  tone  of 
feeling  with  which  the  gentleman  from  the  city  of  New  York 
entered  upon  the  discussion  of  this  Sub-Treasury  bill.  He  is 
a  bank  man,  sir,  an  ultra  State-bank  advocate.  He  is  emphat 
ically  for  the  paper  system,  even  greatly  enlarged  beyond  its 
present  amount.  He  sees  in  this  system  the  maintenance  of 
the  superiority  of  New  York  and  the  great  aid  of  commerce. 
Indeed,  from  his  remarks  upon  this  bill,  he  has  persuaded 
himself,  oddly  enough  I  think,  that  its  tendency  and  purpose 
are,  in  fact,  to  aid  and  sustain  the  banks.  He  defends  and 


188  POLITICAL    PAPERS. 

supports  it  with  that  view,  and  as  powerfully  conducive  to  ad 
vance  the  interest  of  his  own  city. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  gentleman  from  South  Carolina 
(Mr.  Pickens),  is  altogether  in  the  opposite  key.  This  gentle 
man  is  profoundly  indoctrinated  with  the  dogmas  of  the  hard- 
money  school  :  he  is  persuaded  that  all  our  sufferings,  and  all 
our  weakness  have  come  from  the  banking  system.  That  sys 
tem,  in  his  judgment,  has  not  only  held  this  nation  in  thrall  to 
Great  Britain,  but  it  has  rendered  the  Southern  States  the 
"  colonial  vassals"  of  their  Northern  brethren.  He  views  the 
over-towering  elevation  of  New  York  with  an  unfriendly  eye  ; 
sees  in  it  the  fruit  of  systematic  oppressions,  exercised  by  the 
general  Government,  against  the  South  ;  and  his  whole  desire 
is  to  break  up  that  commercial  connection  which  he  deems  so 
unnatural  and  so  hurtful  ;  to  give  to  the  South  a  circle  of  trade 
circumcised  to  its  own  limits,  and  thus  render  it  independent 
of  the  North.  In  this  bill  he  persuades  himself  he  finds  the 
means  of  accomplishing  his  purpose.  It  is  the  only  measure 
which,  in  his  judgment,  will  break  down  the  banking  system, 
and  pluck  from  New  York  the  fortunate  honors  of  her  present 
ascendency. 

Sir,  the  bill  has  another  class  of  supporters.  They  may  be 
said  to  be  represented  by  the  gentleman  from  Virginia  (Mr. 
Hunter).  The  tenets  of  this  class  may  be  described  in  brief, 
as  professing  to  inculcate  that  bank  credits  have  permanently 
crippled  the  commerce  and  industry  of  this  country  :  that  upon 
the  hard-money  system — the  pure  metallic  currency — we  should 
have  advanced  by  more  rapid  strides  to  wealth  and  power}  and 
that  we  should  now  have  exhibited  a  mercantile  community 
free  from  all  apprehension  of  those  disturbances  and  dangers, 
to  which  experience  has  'proved  our  currency  to  be  subject. 
In  the  opinion  of  the  honorable  gentleman,  the  age  has  at  last 
received  the  true  light,  and  is  now  about  to  discard  paper  mon 
ey  forever  as  unworthy  the  improved  philosophy  of  our  day  ;  and 
he  is  especially  anxious  that  the  United  States  should  take  time 
by  the  forelock  and  be  the  first  to  step  into  this  glorious  ref- 


THE    SUB-TREASURY.  189 

ormation.    That  step  he  believes  will  be  made  by  passing  this 
bill. 

There  is  yet  another  class,  of  whom  the  gentleman  from 
Virginia  who  spoke  before  his  colleague  on  that  side  (Mr. 
Dromgoole),  may  be  deemed  the  interpreter.  They  are  the 
mere  naked  divorce  men.  Without  professing  to  see  any  thing 
mischievous  in  banking,  or  any  thing  good  in  it,  they  stand  on 
the  simple  ground  of  the  Constitution,  and  affirm,  whether  it 
be  expedient  or  not,  that  the  Government  has  no  power  to  re 
ceive  a  bank  note  in  payment  of  any  thing  :  that  the  whole 
usage  of  the  people  of  the  United  States,  from  the  beginning 
down  to  the  present  day,  has  been  vicious,  unconstitutional 
and  naught.  That  uniform  and  unvarying  precedent  is  noth 
ing  ;  that  acquiescence  for  half  a  century  is  nothing  ;  that  the 
judgment  of  courts,  the  expositions  of  contemporaries,  the  en 
actments  of  legislatures  and  the  opinions  of  cabinets  uncontra- 
dicted  and  unreversed  from  generation  to  generation,  are  noth 
ing  ;  and  that  whatever  of  constitutional  power  was  a  matter 
of  doubt  on  the  first  day  of  the  Government,  will,  in  spite  of 
all  decisions  and  all  conformity,  be  a  matter  of  doubt  and  de 
bate  a  thousand  years  hence.  For  these  reasons  this  class  also 
sustains  this  measure. 

In  the  midst  of  this  contrariety  of  opinion,  I  could  not  but 
remark  how  exceedingly  difficult  it  was  for  one  in  my  situation, 
being  new  to  this  house,  and  to  the  respective  claims  of  gen 
tlemen  here  to  be  ranked  as  leaders — to  make  a  sober  and  just 
estimate  of  the  grounds  upon  which  the  administration  hopes 
10  sustain  this  bill  before  the  country.  Surely  one  or  the  oth 
er  of  these  motley-opinioned  defenders  of  the  scheme,  can 
have  but  little  claim  to  be  considered  as  exponents  of  the  exec 
utive  mind  !  If  the  bill  be  what  the  member  from  New  'fork 
represents  it,  I  would  advise  the  gentlemen  from  the  South  to 
pause  and  look  about  them,  lest  they  make  a  fatal  mistake  in 
their  method  of  pulling  down  the  city  of  New  York,  and  build 
ing  up  Charleston.  And  to  say  the  truth,  I  think  there  is  rea 
son  to  fear  that  the  honorable  Chairman  of  the  Committee  of 


190  POLITICAL    PAPERS. 

Ways  and  Means,  is  not  altogether  wrong  in  his  expectations. 
With  that  unscrupulous  favoritism  by  which  this  and  the  last 
administration  have  been  accustomed  to  execute  the  laws,  New 
York,  provided  she  demean  herself  less  contumacious  than  she 
has  lately  done,  may  turn  her  political  acquiescence  to  some 
account  under  this  proposed  system.  There  is  power  in  it,  as 
I  shall  hereafter  show,  for  the  conferring  of  any  amount  of  fa 
vor.  But  it  is  very  clear  that  the  gentlemen  of  the  South  do 
not  in  any  one  point  agree  in  the  conclusions  or  give  credit  to 
the  wisdom  of  the  honorable  chairman. 

If  the  gentleman  from  South  Carolina  (Mr.  Pickens)  be 
right  in  his  estimate  of  the  character  and  tendency  of  this 
bill,  then  I  warn  the  representatives  of  the  North  to  look  to  it. 
They  are  not  hard-money  men ;  they  do  not  wish  to  strangle 
the  banking  system  ;  above  all,  I  presume,  they  do  not  wish 
to  check  the  commerce  or  restrain  the  industry  of  their  own 
region.  If  they  do,  let  them  follow  the  lead  of  the  member 
from  South  Carolina  ;  and  when  they  go  home  to  their  con 
stituents,  let  them  say  that  they  have  been  converted  to  a 
conviction  of  the  soundness  of  his  views,  and  therefore  voted 
for  the  bill. 

Mr.  Chairman,  I  am  not  unfriendly  to  the  prosperity  of 
South  Carolina.  No  man  on  this  floor  wishes  her  well  more 
heartily  than  I  do  ;  and  I  look  with  a  profound  gratification 
to  that  noble  and  wise  spirit  of  enterprise  which  has  lately 
prompted  her  to  scale  the  Alleghany  with  her  great  road. 
God  speed  her,  in  that  glorious  rivalry  by  which  she  has  en 
deavored  to  place  herself  on  a  commanding  eminence  among 
the  States  !  There  lies  her  path  to  wealth,  power  and  happi 
ness  ;  let  her  pursue  it  steadily,  and  she  will  reap  her  reward. 
None  will  exult  in  it  more  than  myself.  But  when  she  aims 
at  breaking  up  the  commercial  union  of  the  North  and  South, 
and  especially  when  she  teaches  her  people  that  this  Govern 
ment  has  been  unkind  to  the  South,  she  gives  a  dangerous 
direction  to  their  thoughts.  A  fancy  of  discontent  is  quite  as 
stimulating  as  a  real  cause,  and  may  teach  the  weaker-gifted 


THE    SUB-TREASURY.  191 

in  the  gifts  of  head  and  heart,  the  mischievous  habit  of  calcu 
lating  the  value  of  our  Union.  Whether  designed  or  not,  these 
preachings  of  discontent  tend  towards  that  horrible  catastrophe 
of  disunion,  with  the  contemplation  of  which  I  would  not  have 
our  people  familiar.  It  is  in  the  very  bounty  of  the  Almighty 
that  our  North  and  South  are  united  in  those  beautiful  bonds 
of  brotherhood  which  their  mutual  commerce  with  each  other 
have  created :  it  will  be  the  regret  of  this  whole  continent, 
when  independent  circles  of  trade  shall  be  formed,  which  shall 
leave  the  different  geographical  sections  of  the  country  no  lon 
ger  useful  to  each  other  in  their  dealings.  Sir,  it  will  lead 
irresistibly  to  separation. 

I  would  hope,  sir,  that  these  thoughts,  or  any  thought 
kindred  to  them,  never  entered  the  mind  of  the  gentleman 
from  South  Carolina  in  his  support  of  this  bill,  and  that,  after 
all,  he  has  been  harmlessly  dealing  in  the  dogmas  of  that  new 
philosophy  which  has  of  late  become  so  peculiarly  the  product 
of  his  own  State.  South  Carolina  has,  for  a  time,  gone  in  pur 
suit  of  strange  gods — she  has  fallen  into  the  spiritual  sins  of 
false  doctrine,  heresy  and  schism  ;  she  has  become  mischiev 
ously  sophisticated,  bewildered  with  political  metaphysics ;  I 
trust  she  will  soon  return  to  that  rectitude  of  opinion  which  is 
more  compatible  with  the  moral  rectitude  and  lofty  patriotic 
bearing  that  distinguish  her  sons. 

I  said,  sir,  that  I  wished  to  test  this  measure  as  a  measure 
of  remedy,  and  with  that  view  would  endeavor  to  trace  our 
present  disasters  up  to  their  origin.  I  shall  do  it  as  briefly 
as  the  nature  of  the  inquiry  and  my  respect  for  the  patience 
of  this  committee,  already  tried  to  its  utmost  verge,  will  permit. 

There  was  an  opinion  sedulously  inculcated  during  the  lat 
ter  part  of  the  last  administration,  that  the  specie  basis  of  the 
country  was  insufficient  to  sustain  the  paper  circulation,  and 
the  people  were  taught  to  believe  that  it  would  be  a  whole 
some  exercise  of  the  power  of  the  Government,  and,  in  fact,  was 
its  duty,  to  take  measures  for  the  importation  of  the  precious 
metals.  Everybody  remembers  when  this  opinion  began  to 


192  POLITICAL    PAPERS. 

predominate.  It  was  about  midway  in  that  career  of  patchwork 
expedients  to  give  us  a  "  better  currency,"  which  constituted 
first  the  dream,  and  finally  the  monomania  of  Jacksonism. 
Gouge  had  just  published  his  book  of  bank  horrors,  in  which, 
somewhat  after  the  manner  of  an  anti-masonic  pamphlet,  or  one 
of  parson  Weems's  tracts,  "  God's  revenge  against  drunken 
ness,"  he  had  arrayed  in  melancholy  juxtaposition  all  the  vices, 
sins  and  misdemeanors  which  could  be  traced  to  his  subject,  or 
be  brought  to  its  illustration.  This  book  suggested  the  hard- 
money  scheme.  It  fell  in  the  way  of  the  President  just  about 
that  time  when  he  was  beginning  to  doubt  the  efficacy  of  the 
great  and  famous  EXPERIMENT.  It  furnished  him  a  happy 
thought,  when  it  pointed  out  to  him  how  he  might  retreat  from 
the  odium  of  the  possible  and  even  then  probable  failure  of 
that  scheme.  From  that  moment  he  was  taken  with  the  hard- 
money  madness,  and  straightway  the  whole  tribe  of  depend 
ants,  following  his  lead,  took  the  same  frenzy,  and  soon  be 
came  even  more  rabid  than  their  chief. 

-  This  was  not  the  least  mischievous  of  the  errors  which 
characterized  that  extraordinary  era  of  popular  delusion.  The 
notion  that  the  specie  basis  was  inadequate  to  the  currency, 
and  that  it  was  the  province  of  the  Government  to  enlarge  it 
by  forced  importations,  was  the  principal  cause  that  brought 
about  the  catastrophe  of  the  suspension.  To  those  who  have 
not  fully  studied  the  subject,  it  may  sound  like  a  paradox,  but 
it  is  nevertheless  true,  that  the  suspension  of  specie  payments 
was  induced  by  the  importation  of  the  precious  metals ;  and 
the  resumption  is  to  be  accomplished — in  fact  has  already 
been  prepared,  and  we  may  say,  consummated — by  the  expor 
tation  of  them. 

I  shall,  before  I  conclude,  have  occasion  to  notice  this  im 
portation  of  specie  with  more  particularity  ;  for  the  present  I 
design  to  inquire  into  the  soundness  of  the  position  assumed 
— whether  the  coin  was  insufficient  to  sustain  the  currency, 
and  whether  good  was  likely  to  result  from  the  interference  of 
the  Government.  To  the  presumptuous,  unskillful  and  ignor- 


THE    SUB-TJJEASURY.  193 

ant  intermeddling  of  the  Government  with  this  subject,  the 
common  opinion  has  already  assigned  the  common  distress. 
I  wish  to  inquire  if  there  be  not  cause  for  this  imputation. 

The  ratio  which  specie  may  safely  bear  to  the  paper  circu 
lation  of  the  banks,  is  altogether  incapable  of  fixed  and  deter 
minate  regulation.  It  necessarily  must  change  with  respect  to 
time,  place  and  circumstance — defying  all  attempt  at  invaria 
ble  adjustment.  It  is  subject  to  the  ordinary  mercantile  rela 
tions  of  supply  and  demand,  and  will  be  governed  by  the  prin 
ciples  applicable  to  those  relations.  The  fundamental  law  of 
our  country  requires  that  all  paper  should  be  convertible  into 
gold  and  silver ;  it  has  not  indulged  the  absurdity  of  con 
templating  the  possibility  that  all  would  be  converted.  It  is 
the  creditor's  right  to  require  his  debtor  to  pay  in  coin.  The 
purport  of  this  provision  is  to  furnish  a  standard  of  value ;  it 
refers  every  object  of  traffic  to  the  value  of  the  precious  metals, 
but  does  not  require  that  these  metals  shall  be  the  actual  com 
mutation  in  every  transaction  of  trade.  The  convenience  of 
society  has  uniformly  made  the  equivalent  of  coin,  in  the  great 
affairs  of  trade,  more  acceptable  than  the  coin  itself,  and  coin 
now  is  no  longer  necessary  as  a  commutation  for  bank  paper, 
than  as  its  presence  is  requisite  to  preserve  the  standard  of 
value  in  the  paper.  What  is  the  ratio  of  coin  necessary  for 
this  purpose,  is  a  problem  trfat  will  ever  be  varying  in  its  terms. 
It  is  very  obvious  that  if  every  holder  of  bank  paper  insist  upon 
having  the  coin  at  any  given  moment,  the  richest  bank  may 
be  compelled  to  abandon  business :  if  the  public  be  content 
not  to  demand  it,  it  is  equally  clear  that  a  very  small  portion 
of  coin  need  be  kept  on  hand.  We  must  not  confound  ultimate 
solvency,  with  this  question  of  convertibility.  Banks,  no  more 
than  private  individuals,  are  effected  in  their  actual  solvency 
by  not  having  coin  at  hand  ;  although  the  effects  of  not  pay 
ing  in  coin  when  required,  are  very  different  in  the  two  cases ; 
the  bank  would  be  discredited  for  want  of  punctuality  ;  the  in 
dividual  would  escape  almost  without  comment.  It  is  there 
fore  the  peculiar  duty  of  banks  to  keep  a  portion  of  their  funds 
9 


194 


POLITICAL    PAPERS. 


in  hard  money,  sufficient  to  redeem  so  much  of  their  circulation 
as  may  be  demanded.  If  they  kept  an  amount  equal  to  their 
circulation,  they  would  lose  the  legitimate  profit  of  their  busi 
ness  ;  if  they  kept  less  than  might  be  demanded  of  them,  they 
run  the  risk  of  losing  their  credit.  They  must  ascertain  the 
safe  medium  between  these  two  extremes.  What  is  that  me 
dium  can  never  be  so  accurately  determined  by  any  authority 
as  by  the  banks  themselves  It  is  a  question  which  will  depend 
upon  the  state  of  public  confidence,  and  that  confidence  must, 
from  its  nature,  be  affected  by  the  circumstances  or  events  of 
the  day.  No  degree  of  prudence,  nor  no  amount  of  wealth 
would  suffice  to  save  a  bank  from  being  drained  of  its  coin  if 
the  whole  community  were  determined  to  set  upon  it  with  a 
demand  for  coin.  Even  if  the  specie  in  its  possession  exceed 
the  circulation,  the  bank  may  still  be  exhausted,  provided  it  be 
determined  to  continue  its  business  and  to  maintain  that  cir 
culation  at  a  fixed  amount.  A  hundred-dollar  note  paid  out 
on  discount  to-day  may  be  returned  with  a  demand  for  specie 
to-morrow  :  if  it  be  re-issued  in  another  discount,  in  pursuance 
of  the  purpose  to  keep  up  the  circulation,  it  may  again  return 
to  draw  its  amount  in  specie,  and  through  a  continuation  of 
this  process  the  same  note  may  take  out  of  the  vault  ten  times 
its  own  amount  of  coin. 

Again,  sir,  this  relation  will  be  effected  by  the  condition  of 
the  community  in  which  it  exists.  An  active  thriving  busi 
ness,  driven  in  a  densely  peopled  region,  promotes  rapidity  of 
circulation.  The  bank  note  passes  from  hand  to  hand  with 
such  celerity  as  to  give  it  renewed  confidence  in  its  progress.  In 
such  a  state  of  things  a  given  amount  of  paper  performs  double, 
treble,  perhaps  tenfold  work  in  the  way  of  exchanges ;  while 
in  a  sluggish  community,  or  among  a  widely  scattered  popula 
tion,  the  circulation,  from  the  mere  slowness  of  its  movement, 
requires  a  broader  basis  of  specie. 

I  refer,  Mr.  Chairman,  very  cursorily  to  these  considera 
tions,  to  show  how  futile  must  be  the  endeavor  to  regulate  the 
relation  of  specie  to  paper  by  any  fixed  and  unvarying  law  ; 


THE    SUB-TREASURY.  195 

how  still  more  absurd  it  must  be  to  make  this  a  subject  of  Gov 
ernment  action. 

I  have  taken  some  pains,  sir,  to  ascertain  what  has,  in  fact, 
been  this  relation  in  our  own  country  for  several  years  past. 
That  inquiry  has  afforded  me  the  following  results.  From  the 
year  1830,  the  returns  to  the  Government,  upon  this  subject, 
have  been  full  and  I  believe  accurate.  They  will  show  that 
from  that  period  down  to  the  present  year,  1838,  the  aggregate 
specie  in  all  the  banks  has  averaged  a  ratio  of  between  one- 
third  and  one-fourth  of  the  circulation:  in  1830  the  circulation 
was  a  fraction  less  than  three  of  paper  to  one  of  specie  in  the 
banks  ;  in  1837,  less  than  four  to  one. 

Dividing  the  States  into  sections,  with  reference  to  the  na 
ture  of  their  trade  and  population,  we  shall  find  by  the  official 
returns,  that  on  the  first  of  January  1837 — a  period,  let  it  be 
remarked,  two  months  anterior  to  that  at  which  General  Jack 
son  boasted  of  the  prosperity  and  happiness  of  the  country, 
and  of  the  success  of  his  humble  efforts  to  restore  a  sound 
currency — in  the  six  New  England  States,  the  circulation  was 
rather  above  five  dollars  of  paper  for  one  of  specie  in  the  banks 
of  that  region  ;  that  in  the  five  Middle  States,  including  this 
District  of  Columbia,  the  paper  was  rather  less  than  three  to 
one  ;  that  in  the  four  Southern  States,  including  Florida,  it 
was  under  four  to  one  ;  and  in  the  six  principal  Western  States, 
it.  was  but  a  fraction  above  two  to  one.  In  the  State  of  Massa 
chusetts,  a  thickly-peopled  and  busy  State,  the  bank  circulation 
from  1830  to  1837,  vibrated  between  five  to  one,  and  eight  to 
one — never  more  than  a  small  fraction  below  five,  nor  above 
eight.  Connecticut  presents  about  the  same  relation.  New 
York,  in  1834,  exhibited  about  six  of  paper  to  one  of  specie  ; 
since  that  period  it  has  shown  about  three  to  one.  The  gen 
eral  aggregate  of  the  United  States,  as  I  before  remarked,  va 
ries  slightly  between  three  and  four  to  one,  during  the  last 
eight  years ;  the  commencement  of  that  period  being  one 
in  which  the  currency  of  this  country  was  confessedly  the  best 
in  the  world ;  the  termination  of  it,  certainty  presenting  the 


196  POLITICAL  FAPEKS. 

worst  of  which  we  have  any  knowledge  in  any  mercantile  na 
tion.  And  yet,  sir,  in  1830  we  had  not,  it  is  supposed,  above 
forty  millions  of  specie  in  the  country,  while  now  it  is  pro 
claimed,  as  one  of  the  fruits  of  our  wise  statesmanship,  that  we 
have  accumulated  near  one  hundred  millions.  The  truth  is,  our 
currency  has  been  gradually  growing  worse,  notwithstanding 
all  our  efforts  to  increase  the  specie ;  it  has  lost  its  excellence 
in  proportion  as  it  has  become  the  care  of  the  Government. 

Turning  to  Great  Britain  we  shall  find  nearly  the  same  re 
sults.  From  the  year  1780  down  to  1830,  a  computation  of 
the  circulation  of  the  Bank  of  England  will  afford  an  annual 
average  of  about  four  pounds  sterling  in  paper,  to  one  of 
bullion.  In  August,  1797,  a  few  months  after  the  suspension 
of  specie  payments,  the  circulation  of  the  bank  was  about 
eleven  millions  sterling  to  four  of  bullion  ;  in  1798,  it  was 
£12,180,610  sterling  to  £6,546,100  of  bullion,  less  than  two 
to  one.  In  1799  it  was  about  as  13  to  7  ;  and  in  1800  and 
1 80 1,  nearly  the  same  :  showing  that,  for  nearly  five  years 
after  the  suspension,  the  ratio  of  specie  to  circulation  was 
larger  than,  with  some  few  exceptions,  it  had  ever  been  before 
or  afterwards.  In  1783,  more  than  thirteen  years  before  the 
suspension,  the  circulation  was  six  and  a  third  millions  to 
little  more  than  half  a  million  of  bullion.  In  1825,  four  years 
after  the  resumption,  the  circulation  was  £19,398,840  sterling 
to  £3,634,370;  somewhat  above  five  to  one. 

The  Bank  of  France  suspended  specie  payments  in  1806, 
for  about  four  months ;  yet  France  has  upwards  of  six  hundred 
millions  of  dollars  in  her  specie  currency.  The  bank  issues 
no  note  of  less  denomination  than  five  hundred  francs,  equal 
to  one  hundred  dollars,  and  has  always  sustained  a  very  high 
credit. 

I  have  brought  these  facts  into  view,  Mr.  Chairman,  still 
further  to  demonstrate  the  natural,  the  insuperable  difficulty 
of  a  fixed  ratio,  and  also  to  show  how  little  the  solvency  of  a 
bank  depends  upon  the  amount  of  specie  which  it  may  have 
on  hand.  It  belongs  to  the  credit  system,  in  whatever  manner 


THE    SUB-TREASURY.  197 

that  system  may  be  constructed,  to  be  subject  to  occasional  varia 
tions  in  its  relation  to  the  metallic  basis  of  the  country  ;  and  no 
care  of  the  Government  can  possibly  remove  the  causes  which 
may  affect  that  relation.  The  true  principle  by  which  it  is  con 
trolled  is  that  which  is  suggested  by  the  demands  of  trade 
and  the  amount  of  foreign  debt — in  other  words  by  the  state 
of  foreign  exchange.  A  demand  for  specie  abroad  will  ne 
cessarily  influence  this  relation  at  home.  The  precious  metals 
will  perform  their  office  in  the  liquidation  of  that  demand,  in 
spite  of  all  the  care  of  Government ;  and  while  they  are  so 
employed,  the  only  safeguard  which  the  domestic  currency 
can  resort  to,  is  the  prudent  economy  in  the  concerns  of  trade 
which  the  private  judgment  of  every  man  suggests  to  him  in 
his  individual  concerns  when  his  affairs  have  been  deranged 
by  a  too  prodigal  expenditure  of  his  means. 

Ours,  sir,  is  essentially  a  credit  system,  gaged  by  gold 
and  silver.  To  whatever  disorders  it  may  be  incident,  it  is 
still  that  to  which  we  owe  our  rapid  advance  to  national  pros 
perity,  and  we  will  never  part  with  it  for  any  promise  of  good 
from  the  hard-money  scheme.  We  have  been  educated  in  the 
perception  of  its  value  ;  it  is  domesticated  in  our  homes ; 
furnishes  our  ordinary  implements  in  the  thrift  of  life,  and  has 
become  constitutionally  parcel  of  ourselves.  Whatever  may 
be  its  defects  we  take  it  with  them  in  preference  to  any  sub 
stitute.  If  it  has  its  fluctuations,  so  has  the  pure  metallic  cur 
rency,  not  less  hurtful  than  those  of  paper.  The  accumula 
tion  of  a  foreign  debt  would  with  that  currency,  as  with  any 
other,  carry  away  the  precious  metals,  and  thus  raise  the  value 
of  all  that  were  left  behind.  If  a  merchant  import  gold  when 
the  country  is  in  want  of  hardware  or  cloth,  gold  will  grow  to 
be  redundant  and  cheap,  while  hardware  and  cloth  will  be 
come  dear.  A  failure  of  a  crop  may  stint  the  supply  of  credits 
abroad  ;  a  foreign  subsidy  may  take  away  a  portion  of  your 
coin ;  every  cause  which  operates  in  this  form  will  change 
prices  relatively  to  the  precious  metals,  as  they  change  them  in 
reference  to  good  paper.  It  is  commerce  and  industry  and  enter- 


198 


POLITICAL    PAPERS. 


prise  that  produce  these  fluctuations  ;  a  very  small  share  of  the 
evil  is  ordinarily  to  be  ascribed  to  the  nature  of  the  currency. 
In  reference  to  this  question  of  the  ratio,  it  is  proper  to 
inquire  a  little  more  into  the  nature  of  what  is  termed  the  cur 
rency.  It  has  been  often  contended  here  that  the  Constitu 
tion  allows  no  currency  but  gold  and  silver.  Sir,  the  Constitu 
tion  makes  no  reference  to  currency  at  all.  It  supplies,  as  I 
have  said  before,  the  standard  for  all  values,  and  that  is  all 
that  it  professes  to  do.  It  was  manifestly  so  understood  by  its 
founders  when  Gen.  Hamilton,  in  the  first  year  of  Gen. 
Washington's  administration,  issued  his  Treasury  order  to  re 
ceive  bank  paper,  and  when,  in  one  year  afterwards,  1791, 
Congress  ratified  that  order  by  positive  legislation.  The  cur 
rency  of  the  country,  in  the  aspect  of  it  which  I  propose  to 
present,  includes  that  whole  mass  of  paper  credits  which  are 
used  in  commercial  dealings  for  the  discharge  or  transfer  of 
debt.  It  embraces  promissory  notes,  bills  of  exchange, 
draughts,  checks  and  other  evidences  of  indebtedness.  All  of 
these,  sir,  by  the  theory  of  our  Constitution,  are  as  much  pay 
able  in  coin  as  the  notes  of  a  bank.  They  all  profess  to  be 
convertible  or  redeemable  paper ;  yet  no  individual  ever 
thinks  it  his  duty  to  keep  gold  or  silver  at  hand  to  meet  such 
engagements.  If  coin  be  demanded,  his  resource  is  the 
bank  ; — so  that  through  this  process  the  banks  may  be  said  to 
be  under  an  obligation  to  provide  for  the  convertibility  of  all 
this  amount  of  paper.  Compare  the  specie  retained  by  the 
banks  with  the  sum  of  all  these  engagements,  and  it  will  be 
seen  that  the  ratio  is  not  one-tenth — perhaps  not  a  twentieth  ; — 
and  yet  it  is  amply  sufficient.  In  England,  since  the  passage  of 
the  law  making  the  notes  of  the  bank  a  legal  tender  everywhere 
but  at  the  bank  itself,  the  directors  have  endeavored  to  estab 
lish  the  rule  of  keeping  one-third  of  the  amount  of  their  cir 
culation  and  deposits  in  bullion.  They  have  not  been  very 
successful  in  this  endeavor.  That  bank  now  virtually  supplies 
the  coin  of  the  three  kingdoms,  and  upon  a  basis  of  about 
ten  millions  sterling  of  bullion,  sustains  a  bank  circulation — • 


THE    SUB-TREASURY.  199 

including  all  the  country  banks  as  well  as  those  of  Scotland 
and  Ireland — not  much  short  of  sixty  millions. 

Sir,  I  would  not  have  troubled  the  Committee  with  this  un 
inviting  detail  of  money  statistics,  if  I  was  not  aware  that  upon 
this  subject  many  errors  of  opinion  have  obtained  credit  with 
the  country  during  the  last  eight  years ; — errors  which  I  think 
may  be  distinctly  traced  to  the  sedulous  efforts  made  by  the 
last  administration  to  persuade  the  people  that  an  increased 
supply  of  the  precious  metals  was  essential  to  the  safety  of  our 
currency,  and  that  the  Government  itself,  without  respect  to 
the  laws  of  trade,  nay  even  in  direct  counteraction  of  them, 
might  compel  their  importation  from  foreign  countries.  This 
opinion,  enforced  with  all  the  official  authority  of  the  executive, 
has  engendered  a  brood  of  false  doctrines,  and  the  people  have 
consequently  turned  to  counting  the  coin  as  the  only  test  of 
the  prosperity  of  the  country. 

While  such  has  been  the  course  of  the  late  administration, 
it  is  worthy  of  remark  that  the  "  follower  in  his  footsteps''  be 
gan  his  career  with  the  declaration  of  the  Constitutional  disa 
bility  of  the  Government  to  interfere  with  this  department  of 
our  social  economy,  even  so  far  as  to  correct  the  evils  which 
the  ill  judged  and  incessant  interference  of  his  predecessor  had 
inflicted  upon  the  country.  Holding  this  doctrine  of  the  pres 
ent  executive  altogether  indefensible,  either  in  the  reason  of 
the  case  or  in  the  face  of  established  and  invariable  precedent, 
I  think  the  people  have  a  right  to  demand  from  the  Govern 
ment  that  the  remedy  proposed  shall  be  broad  enough  to  meet 
the  whole  extent  of  the  disease. 

I  proceed  now,  Mr.  Chairman,  to  trace  out  the  further  ac 
tion  of  the  Government  upon  this  subject,  and,  in  the  course 
of  this  inquiry,  to  show  in  what  measures  of  the  late  adminis 
tration  the  mischievous  opinions,  to  which  I  have  just  referred, 
were  embodied  as  active  principles. 

From  the  earliest  period  of  this  Government  the  people 
have  been  accustomed  to  contemplate  the  banking  system  as  a 
system,  to  a  certain  extent,  under  Federal  control.  Their  expe- 


200  POLITICAL    PAPERS. 

rience  of  its  beneficence,  which  has  not  been  small,  has  invari 
ably  presented  it  to  them  as  a  system,  partly  within  the  man 
agement  of  the  States,  and  partly  directed  by  the  power  and 
interests  of  the  Union.  Twice  only,  since  the  year  1791,  has 
this  Federal  superintendence  been  suspended,  and  at  each  of 
these  epochs  the  consequences  have  been  the  same — an  exces 
sive  increase  of  local  banking,  a  total  derangement  of  the  cur 
rency,  a  succession  of  ruinous  bankruptcies,  and  a  suspension 
of  specie  payments.  While  the  Federal  control  existed,  these 
evils  were  unknown  ;  and  as  soon  as  that  control  was  restored, 
they  rapidly  disappeared. 

The  banking  system  of  every  mercantile  country,  sir,  pre 
sents,  in  greater  or  less  development,  two  conspicuous  princi 
ples  of  commanding  influence  in  their  respective  spheres — the 
principle  of  alliance  or  centralization,  and  the  principle  of 
competition.  These  are  more  especially  remarkable  in  the 
United  States,  where  our  political  and  commercial  relations 
tend  to  give  them  great  importance.  The  principle  of  central 
ization,  notwithstanding  the  unfriendly  comments  by  which  it 
has  been  assailed  of  late,  with  a  view  to  render  it  odious,  is  of 
singular  value  to  our  system.  I  am  convinced  that  without  it 
no  system  of  banking  could  be  devised  which  would  be  toler 
ated  by  the  country — that  with  it  our  system  becomes  all  that 
the  public  convenience  or  welfare  demands.  This  country,  sir, 
is  divided,  in  reference  to  trade,  into  two  great  sections  : — the 
first,  embracing  the  whole  North,  may  be  denominated  the  com 
mercial  section  ;  the  second,  comprising  the  South,  the  pro 
ducing  section.  The  Middle  and  West  are  tributary  to  both. 
Nothing  can  be  more  happy  for  our  social  welfare  than  this 
natural  division  of  our  interests.  In  the  beneficence  of  provi 
dence  it  seems  to  have  been  ordered  as  the  great  instrument 
of  harmonious  union  to  the  millions  who  now  inhabit  and  who 
shall  hereafter  dwell  upon  this  immense  extent  of  territory. 
The  imports  of  the  North  are  paid  for  by  the  purchase  of  for 
eign  credits  from  the  South.  The  great  crop  of  the  South, 
which  is  annually  exported  to  England  and  France,  produces 


THE    SUB-TREASURY.  201 

the  fund  upon  which  the  importer  cuaws  for  the  liquidation  of 
his  foreign  debt :  the  manufacturer,  too,  of  the  North  pur 
chases  his  raw  material  in  the  South.  Thus  is  created  a  yearly 
demand,  at  an  appointed  season,  for  funds  in  the  South.  The 
importations  of  the  North,  being  distributed  far  and  wide  over 
the  whole  country,  in  their  turn,  also,  and  at  an  appointed  sea 
son,  create  a  similar  demand  for  funds  at  the  point  of  import. 
The  tide  flows  and  ebbs  with  exact  regularity — or,  rather,  this 
tendency  of  money-demand,  like  the  monsoon,  steadily  drives 
for  six  months  in  one  direction,  and  six  months  in  its  oppo 
site,  with  a  precision  which  enables  every  one  to  count  upon 
its  motion.  At  one  season,  some  forty  or  fifty  millions  are 
needed  in  the  South ;  but  a  few  months  roll  around,  when  the 
same  amount  is  needed  in  the  North.  It  is  impossible  to  con 
ceive  a  state  of  trade  to  which  that  feature  of  the  banking  sys 
tem  I  have  characterized  as  the  principle  of  centralization,  is 
more  indispensable  than  this. 

A  banking  system  under  the  control  of  one  mind,  diffusing 
itself  to  the  extremities  of  the  Union  by  a  number  of  banks  all 
in  alliance,  subject  to  the  same  government,  and  never  acting 
in  conflict  with  each  other,  but  ever  uniting  to  produce  a  com 
mon  result — would  seem  to  be  the  only  machinery  by  which 
such  a  circle  of  trade  could  be  advantageously  sustained. 
The  head  of  this  system  holds  a  position  from  which  he  has  a 
view  of  the  whole  field  of  commercial  action.  He  perceives 
at  what  point  succors  may  be  needed,  and  where  the  force  is 
redundant.  He  has  power  to  substract  from  the  one  for  the 
relief  of  the  other.  When  funds  are  necessary  in  New 
Orleans,  and  are  no  longer  required  at  New  York,  the  transfer 
is  but  a  simple  act  of  his  will.  When  they  have  performed 
their  office  in  the  South,  it  is  as  easy  to  re-transfer  them  to 
their  former  position.  Thus,  sir,  have  the  demands  of  that 
great  internal  trade  been  regulated  with  a  simplicity  and  an 
effect  wholly  without  a  parallel  in  any  other  country  on  the 
globe.  The  power  to  accomplish  this  is  the  result  of  the  prin- 
9* 


202  POLITICAL    PAPERS. 

ciple  of  centralization.    Without  such  a  principle  all  would  soon 
degenerate  into  confusion. 

We  have,  sir,  six  -  and  -  twenty  independent  governments, 
sovereign  as  respects  this  question  of  banking,  all  capable  of 
prescribing  laws  for  its  management,  with  the  single  restraint 
that  they  shall  make  nothing  else  than  gold  and  silver  a  ten 
der  for  the  payment  of  debt  This  restraint,  weak  as  it  is,  is 
the  only  point  of  common  obligation.  They  have  no  other 
compulsion  towards  concert  nor  other  perceptible  common 
duty  to  produce  alliance  or  similarity  of  structure  among  them. 
Their  policy  in  regard  to  this  subject,  is  as  various  as  the 
habits,  manners  and  modes  of  thinking  of  the  different  States. 
One  State,  with  a  small  population,  but  great  capability,  Mis 
sissippi  for  example,  authorizes  the  creation  of  banking  capital 
to  the  amount  of  fifty  millions,  and  applies  herself  eagerly  to 
the  task  of  giving  expansion  to  her  industry  in  every  shape  in 
which  she  can  employ  it.  Another  State,  Virginia,  with  treble 
the  population  of  the  former,  and  perhaps  with  resources 
equally  abundant,  erects  a  banking  system  which  scarcely  em 
ploys  seven  millions.  It  may  be  the  wisdom  or  the  caprice, 
the  false  reckoning  or  sober  estimate  of  each  of  these  States 
which  have  persuaded  them  to  adopt  a  policy  so  widely  differ 
ent  from  each  other.  Mississippi  may  have  overshot  her  mark, 
or  Virginia  may  have  too  timidly  kept  herself  below  her  power, 
still  each  has  acted  upon  her  own  perception  of  her  interest,  and, 
it  is  obvious,  without  the  slightest  reference  to  the  other.  And 
so  it  is,  sir,  throughout  the  Union.  A  survey  of  the  whole 
will  show  you  the  banking  system  of  the  States  erected  and 
sustained  altogether  upon  local  considerations,  presenting  every 
conceivable  inequality  in  its  operation.  In  one  portion,  dis 
trust,  caution  and  doubt  fettering  the  industry  of  the  State  ;  in 
another,  emulation,  adventure  and  hope  tinging  its  enterprise 
with  sanguine  hues  and  leading,  it  may  be  sometimes,  to  ex 
travagant  excess.  These  several  jurisdictions  are  no  more 
capable  of  producing  uniformity  in  banking,  even  if  they  were 
inclined  to  do  so,  than  in  any  other  matter  of  general  concern 


THE    SUB-TREASURY.  203 

to  the  Union.  As  well  might  you  expect  the  States,  sir,  by 
their  fortuitous  concurrence,  to  produce  a  uniform  law  of  nat 
uralization,  the  uniform  organization  of  the  militia,  or  an 
equal  and  properly  apportioned  representation  in  this  hall,  as 
to  expect  of  them  harmony  and  concert  in  their  regulation  of 
the  affairs  of  trade  through  the  agency  of  their  banks.  Let 
capital  abound  in  one  region,  and  the  demand  for  it  be  ever 
so  urgent  in  another,  what  State  bank  would  be  found  trans 
ferring  its  funds  to  meet  a  temporary  emergency  growing  out 
of  such  a  cause  ?  The  States  will  necessarily  be  influenced 
only  by  the  considerations  which  arise  at  home  and  have 
reference  to  their  domestic  interests.  The  want  of  uniformity 
might  be  harmless,  if  there  was  not  also  incident  to  this  system, 
when  left  to  follow  its  own  impulses  unchecked,  not  only  a 
want  of  co-operation  with  other  States,  but  often  actual  inter 
ference  with  them  and  counter  action  in  their  several  concerns. 
Instead  of  moving  under  the  constraints  of  a  general  system, 
their  main  impulse  will  be  found  in  the  principle  of  competi 
tion.  This  competition  will  be  manifest  in  the  legislation  of 
State  against  State ;  it  will  extend  itself  and  predominate  in 
the  contest  between  city  and  city,  and  still  more  actively,  on 
the  narrower  theatre  at  home,  in  the  rivalry  between  bank  and 
bank.  The  great  instinct  of  this  principle  of  competition  is  a 
hurtful  one ;  its  tendency  is  towards  excess.  Two  banks  in 
the  same  village  will  run  the  race  against  each  other.  Each 
will  strive  to  supply  the  neighborhood  with  greater  facilities, 
to  lend  upon  more  attainable  securities,  to  embrace  a  larger 
class  of  dealers,  to  lure  adventure,  as  means  abound,  by  still 
greater  enticements.  If  a  large  circulation  may  be  absorbed 
to-day,  a  still  larger  one,  in  the  reckoning  of  these  rivals  in  the 
race,  may  be  absorbed  to-morrow,  the  larger  the  circulation, 
the  greater  the  profit.  The  feverish  cupidity  of  avarice  will 
perceive  in  such  a  course  the  road  to  large  gains,  and,  while 
the  banks  pursue  it,  the  last  thought  which  will  occur  to  the 
authors  of  these  efforts,  will  be  the  consequences  of  this  ex 
cited  action  upon  the  general  welfare  of  the  nation.  Such, 


201  POLITICAL    PAPERS. 

sir,  are  the  tendencies  of  the  uncontrolled  principles  of  com 
petition  in  banking. 

The  action  of  a  central  power  restrains  and  corrects  these 
tendencies.  A  National  Bank,  under  an  efficient  organization, 
has,  if  not  an  absolute,  certainly  a  most  decisive  control  over 
the  value  and  amount  of  the  local  currencies  supplied  by  the 
State  banks.  To  say  nothing  of  that  most  important  action 
of  a  national  bank  upon  the  exchanges — by  far  the  most  use 
ful  of  its  functions — such  an  institution  regulates  the  local 
currency  through  another  influence  of  great  value  to  the  stability 
of  the  banking  system.  A  bank  sustained  by  the  credit  of  the 
Government  and  strengthened  by  the  deposits  of  the  public 
moneys,  cannot  but  enjoy  the  universal  confidence  of  the  na 
tion.  Its  paper  will  necessarily  be  esteemed  as  of  the  best, 
and  will  be  current  in  every  avenue  of  business.  Such  a 
paper,  sir,  becomes  a  gage  by  which  to  measure  the  value  of 
all  other  paper  for  which  it  may  be  exchanged.  It  that  respect 
it  holds  towards  other  paper  somewhat  of  the  relation  which 
the  precious  metals  hold  to  itself.  I  know,  sir,  that  it  is  a 
received  and  familiar  proposition  that  a  better  currency  will 
not  circulate  in  the  presence  of  an  inferior  one.  This  is  true 
of  coin — it  is  not  true  of  paper.  Coin  will  not  circulate  in  the 
presence  of  a  depreciated  paper,  because  it  may  immediately 
betake  itself  to  foreign  countries,  where  it  will  command  its 
value,  or  it  may  retire  into  private  hoards,  to  be  kept  until  a 
better  state  of  things  shall  draw  it  forth  into  circulation.  But 
when  a  bank  is  able  to  put  forth  an  unquestionable  paper,  all 
of  inferior  value  will  disappear  before  it.  The  public  will  pre 
fer  that  paper  which  enjoys  the  highest  credit,  and  they  will 
refuse  all  other  while  that  is  attainable.  It  is  the  interest  and 
business  of  such  a  bank  to  render  its  paper  at  all  times  attain 
able  ;  its  profit  consists  in  supplying  the  public  with  a  circu 
lation  which  can  neither  be  hoarded  nor  sent  abroad.  This 
paper,  in  fact,  circulates  upon  its  superior  credit,  and  thus  en 
grosses  to  itself,  as  far  as  its  own  volume  will  permit,  the  bus 
iness  of  the  community.  It  is,  sir,  by  the  influence  of  this 


THE    SITE-TREASURY.  205 

principle,  that  the  paper  of  a  national  bank,  fortified  by  the 
credit  and  resources  of  the  Government,  becomes  a  regulator 
of  the  value  of  all  other  currency  in  the  nation ;  it  furnishes 
the  gage  or  standard  to  which  all  local  paper,  in  its  own  dis 
trict  or  appropriate  range,  must  conform.  In  this  aspect,  the 
central  banking  power  may  be  said  to  constitute  a  great  con 
servative  element  in  the  adjustment  and  preservation  of  a 
sound  currency. 

It  is,  Mr.  Chairman,  in  the  just  balance  of  these  two  prin 
ciples  of  centralization  and  competition,  that  the  greatest 
efficiency  and  safety  are  given  to  our  system.  The  central 
power  alone  might  not  be  sufficiently  observant  and  regardful 
of  local  wants ;  in  the  greater  profits  of  the  more  important 
operations  of  exchange,  it  might  lose  sight  of  sectional  con 
venience,  and  of  the  wants  of  the  lesser  circles  of  trade  ;  the 
local  banks  will  ply  within  these  limits  greatly  to  the  advan 
tage  of  themselves  and  of  the  public.  On  the  other  hand,  the 
local  banks  alone,  for  the  reasons  I  have  given,  would  be  found 
utterly  incapable  of  fulfilling  the  broader  functions  assigned  to 
the  central  power. 

The  necessity  for  this  division  results,  in  part,  from  the 
nature  of  our  confederacy.  The  Federal  power  is  essential  to 
the  control  of  all  interests  which  expand  beyond  the  limits  of 
a  single  State,  while  the  State  power  is  well  entrusted  to  the 
municipal  regulations  necessary  to  its  own  well  being.  The 
institution  of  banking,  having  a  great  and  predominating  in 
fluence  over  the  currency  of  the  country,  rises  in  consideration 
far  above  a  mere  municipal  concern,  into  one  of  the  broadest 
national  importance,  and  nothing  has  been  found  more  authen 
tically  established  in  the  experience  of  this  Government,  than 
the  absolute  necessity  of  imparting  to  the  management  of  the 
banks  a  certain  share  of  Federal  supervision. 

Mr.  Chairman,  I  charge  it  upon  the  late  administration,  as 
one  step  taken  by  them  towards  the  embarrassment  of  this 
nation,  that  they  rashly  and  most  unwisely  deprived  the  country 
of  the  benefit  of  this  Federal  supervision  over  the  currency,  by 


200  POLITICAL    PAPERS. 

the  destruction  of  the  late  Bank  of  the  United  States.  Sir, 
that  administration  did  not  very  maturely  reflect  upon  the  con 
sequences  of  the  destruction  of  the  bank.  They  sinned  against 
light,  for  it  is  evident  that  they  recognized,  to  the  fullest  extent, 
the  value  and  the  indispensable  necessity  of  this  principle  of 
centralization  upon  which  I  have  remarked.  Their  whole 
course,  in  the  early  stages  of  that  pernicious  movement  which 
has  brought  upon  us  our  present  disasters,  attests  their  ac 
knowledgment  of  the  necessity  of  the  Federal  control  through 
a  central  power  in  banking.  When  General  Jackson  first  re 
solved  upon  the  downfall  of  the  bank,  it  was  not  to  destroy  the 
machinery  of  a  national  institution,  it  was  only  to  build  up  an 
other,  as  he  believed,  of  a  more  efficient  structure.  His  first 
messages  reiterate  again  and  again  the  necessity,  the  great 
utility  and  importance  of  a  National  Bank.  The  war  against 
the  bank  was  a  war  of  individual  hate  ;  its  object  was  individ 
ual  punishment.  The  pretext  was  an  objection  to  the  form 
of  organization  only  ;  a  question  of  detail  to  be  corrected  in  a 
new  establishment.  The  Executive  at  that  time,  so  far  from 
repelling  the  necessity  of  the  principle  of  this  bank,  engaged 
in  the  struggle  to  give  that  principle  more  scope  and  effect. 
And  even  afterwards,  sir,  when  this  strife  between  Leviathan 
and  Behemoth  ceased  to  be  a  contention  of  argument,  and  be 
came  one  of  passion,  and  when  the  victorious  chief  had  turned 
all  his  malice  to  its  direst  account,  and  struck  down  his  ad 
versary,  even  then,  sir,  the  principle  was  still  avowed  and  pro 
mulgated  that  without  a  central  power  the  currency  could 
not  be  sustained.  That  central  power  was  attempted  to  be 
fashioned  on  a  new  model,  but  out  of  old  materials.  It  was 
the  chief  and  most  conspicuous  design,  in  the  celebrated  ex 
periment,  to  manufacture  a  great  central  or  national  control 
over  the  currency,  out  of  some  thirty  or  forty  State  banks, 
which  were  to  be  affiliated  by  a  government  contract,  and 
clothed  with  all  the  Federal  powers  heretofore  conferred  upon 
the  Bank  of  the  United  States.  In  fact  it  was  designed,  by  this 
form  of  association,  to  erect  a  Bank  of  the  United  States,  with  all 


THE    SUB-TREASURY.  207 

the  function  of  alliance  and  centralization  of  which  the  associa 
tion  was  capable.  And,  sir,  it  was  proclaimed  to  be  capable 
of  this  function  to  as  beneficial  an  extent  as  the  bank  whose 
term  was  just  drawing. to  a  close.  It  is  not  my  purpose,  Mr. 
Chairman,  to  occupy  the  time  of  the  committee  with  a  discus 
sion  of  the  value  of  this  scheme  of  General  Jackson  and  his 
cabinet,  but  I  refer  to  it  to  show  that,  even  up  to  the  moment 
of  the  failure  of  the  great  experiment,  embracing  much  the 
longer  portion  of  the  existence  of  that  administration,  the  party 
in  the  ascendant  were  as  fully  imbued  as  I  am  at  this  moment, 
with  the  conviction  of  the  importance  of  this  central  banking 
power,  which  it  is  now,  in  certain  quarters,  the  habit  of  some 
of  the  same  party  and  of  the  same  men  to  portray  in  so  many 
shapes  of  abhorrence  and  disgust. 

It  was  the  duty  of  the  President,  before  he  ventured  upon 
the  rash  enterprise  of  pulling  down  the  Bank  of  the  United 
States,  to  be  well  assured  that  he  could  supply  other  machin 
ery  capable  of  performing  the  functions  and  rendering  the 
services  which  the  destruction  of  that  institution  might  sus 
pend.  It  was  his  boast  that  this  new  contrivance  of  the  as 
sociated  State  banks  would  amply  fill  the  space,  and  even 
more  faithfully  discharge  the  duties  of  the  retiring  bank  than 
that  bank  itself  had  ever  done.  I  need  not  recall  the  glowing 
promises  of  success  which  the  administration  poured  forth 
with  such  lavish  exultation  upon  the  birth  of  their  experiment ; 
nor,  sir,  is  it  necessary  to  dwell  for  a  moment  upon  the  signal 
failure  of  that  famous  abortion — the  first  are  written  in  every  line 
of  official  communication  which  the  self-complacent  spirit  of  the 
President  addressed,  in  a  thousand  forms,  to  the  country  upon 
the  auspicious  event — the  last  has  been  baptized  in  the  tears  of 
the  nation.  Sir,  I  have  a  right,  therefore,  to  charge  the  last  ad 
ministration  and  its  present  followers  with  all  the  consequences 
which  have  flowed  from  this  misjudged  and  ill-fated  measure. 

In  following  up  the  train  of  events  that  sprang  from  this 
movement  of  the  cabinet  of  General  Jackson,  the  next  step 
was,  if  possible,  even  more  mischievous  than  the  first.  It  will 


POLITICAL    PAPERS. 

be  seen,  sir,  in  the  course  adopted  in  the  employment  of  the 
State  banks.  One  would  have  supposed,  Mr.  Chairman,  that 
a  statesman  entering  upon  so  fearful  and  momentous  an  ex 
periment  as  that  of  1833,  would  proceed,  at  least,  warily  and 
with  some  cautious  reserve  in  the  untried  and  perilous  career 
before  him  ;  that  he  would  reflect  upon  the  novelty  of  his  po 
sition  ;  weigh  its  dangers,  and,  in  shaping  his  course,  rather 
incur  the  risk  of  being  chid  for  too  much  discretion  than  taxed 
for  his  boldness.  Far  other  than  this  was  the  characteristic 
of  the  advance  of  the  late  President  to  the  difficulties  of  the 
crisis.  When  the  public  moneys  were  removed  into  the  keep 
ing  of  the  chosen  banks,,  instead  of  admonitions  of  prudence 
in  the  use  of  the  public  funds,  instead  of  restriction  or  con 
straint,  the  administration  made  haste  to  order  that  these 
treasures  should  be  scattered  far  and  wide  with  a  profuse  in 
dulgence.  The  depositories  were  enjoined  to  take  care  that 
no  facilities  be  denied  to  commerce,  but  that  the  moneys  on 
deposit  be  distributed  as  broadly  and  as  liberally  as  the  pub 
lic  convenience,  the  demands  of  trade,  might  require.  In 
stead,  sir,  of  advising  the  banks  that,  now  the  great  regulating 
and  controlling  power  being  withdrawn,  it  became  more  ur 
gently  their  duty  to  guard  against  that  licentious  issue  which 
the  uncurbed  principle  of  competition  must  engender ;  they 
were  exhorted  and  commanded  to  let  loose  the  fullest  play  of 
that  rivalry  and  drive  their  headlong  course  as  swiftly  as  their 
appetite  for  gain  might  prompt.  The  President,  sir,  was  not 
left  unadmonished  of  the  inevitable  end  of  this  mistaken  policy. 
Here  in  this  hall,  and  in  the  Senate,  he  was  tolcl  to  what  result 
this  madness  must  impel  the  nation.  From  all  quarters  the 
same  prophetic  warning  was  poured  into  his  ear  :  and  all 
thinking  men,  everywhere  but  in  the  executive  mansion,  fore 
saw  the  certain  disaster  that  awaited  the  experiment. 

Sir,  at  this  time  another  element  concurred  to  render  the 
experiment  more  mischievous.  The  President's  veto  had 
announced  to  the  nation  the  entire  hopelessness  of  obtaining 
a  renewal  of  the  charter  of  the  National  Bank.  Upon  that 


THE    SUE-TREASURY.  209 

subject  he  was  peremptory  and  emphatic  ;  and  the  States, 
being  thus  assured  that  the  bank  was  to  expire,  were  invited 
to  increase  their  banking  capital.  At  once,  as  by  a  com 
mon  impulse,  every  State  in  the  Union  set  about  enlarg 
ing  its  means  of  banking.  The  pretext  was  the  necessity 
of  supplying  the  vacuum  of  capital  to  be  occasioned  by  the 
extinction  of  the  National  Bank.  Under  this  pretext,  nearly 
four  hundred  banks  and  one  hundred  and  ten  millions  of  capital 
were  created  between  1834  and  1838,  while,  at  the  same 
time,  that  bank  whose  extinction  furnished  the  plea  for  this 
increase,  was  not  withdrawn,  nor  was  its  activity  in  business 
even  diminished,  but  on  the  contrary  yet  lives  and  thrives  in 
the  full  possession  of  all  its  capital, — and  is  likely  long  to  live 
and  thrive.  The  activity  imparted  by  these  measures  to  the 
banking  system  of  the  country  soon  began  to  be  felt  in  western 
speculations  in  the  public  lands,  and  it  became  apparent,  at 
an  early  day,  that  the  public  treasure  would  be  greatly  aug 
mented  through  this  channel.  Sir,  in  view  of  such  a  result, 
and  with  a  learned  forecast  of  the  disturbance  the  event  was 
likely  to  produce,  the  wisest  man  among  the  counsellors  of 
this  nation,  the  most  effective  and  trusty  of  her  statesmen, 
brought  before  Congress  that  great  measure,  the  bill  for  regu 
lating  the  distribution  of  the  public  lands.  By  a  fatality 
which  signalized  the  career  of  the  late  administration  and 
invariably  impelled  it — whenever  there  was  a  choice  between 
right  and  wrong — into  the  wrong  path,  the  President  thought 
proper  to  put  his  veto  on  this  measure,  and  thus  convert  the 
whole  proceeds  of  the  sale  of  the  public  domain,  which  prop 
erly  belonged  to  the  capital  of  the  nation,  into  the  ordinary 
revenues  of  the  Government, — eventually  producing  some  forty 
millions  of  surplus  which  in  its  course  of  production,  was  fed 
by,  and  contributed  to  feed,  the  local  banks  and  to  turn  all  the 
currents  of  ordinary  commerce  away.  Instead  of  restraining 
the  accumulation  of  revenue,  which  prudence  would  have  sug 
gested  as  essential  under  the  new  system  of  deposit,  the 
President  took  every  step  in  his  power  to  augment  it,  and  to 


210  POLITICAL    PAPERS. 

distribute  it  in  the  most  unwholesome  manner  his  opportunity 
allowed  :  it  was  accomplishing  the  worst  possible  purpose,  in 
the  worst  possible  way,  and  extracting  the  greatest  amount 
of  mischief  out  of  the  most  mischievous  thing  he  could  devise. 
I,  therefore,  again  lay  it  to  the  account  of  that  administration, 
as  in  part  the  cause  of  the  present  embarrassments,  that  it 
built  up  that  disproportion  and  ungoverned  system  of  State 
banking  which  has  been  found  so  injurious,  and  nurtured  tint 
system  by  the  unhealthy  and  unnatural  stimulus  of  excessive 
treasure  unwisely  accumulated  in  the  manner  I  have  described. 

Mr.  Chairman,  it  is  easy  to  understand  how  prompt  and 
expansive  must  have  been  the  effect  of  this  artificial  animation 
of  the  money-action  upon  the  general  concerns  of  trade.  It 
quickened  business  in  every  department  of  life  and  greatly 
increased  consumption.  The  consequence  of  this  was  to  in 
crease  importation — not  by  over-trading,  but  by  increasing  the 
demand.  And  then,  sir,  prices  naturally  rose.  Every  thing 
that  was  bought  was  sure  to  sell  at  an  advance  ; — you  might 
scarcely  go  wrong  in  a  speculation.  Trade,  traffic  and  adven 
ture  spurned  their  old  and  sober  channels.  They  fell  into 
the  hands  of  new  men,  and  dealt  in  new  commodities.  The 
farmer  turned  from  his  plough,  and  the  mechanic  from  his 
tools  to  become  lords  of  boundless  acres  and  the  founders  of 
towns  and  cities.  People  became  extravagant  in  their  habits 
of  expense  and  rioted  in  the  imagination  of  riches  infinite. 
France  was  not  more  mad  in  the  wild  frenzy  of  Law's  great 
scheme,  than  were  our  people  in  this  revel  of  fancied  wealth. 

At  this  epoch  another  movement  was  made — the  most  ex 
traordinary  of  all  the  blunders  of  that  eccentric  and  wrong- 
headed  administration.  I  scarcely  know  in  what  language  to 
characterize  the  pre-eminent  folly  of  the  measure  with  which 
General  Jackson  attempted  to  check  the  evil  inclinations  of 
this  period.  I  have  before  said,  Mr.  Chairman,  that  about 
midway  in  the  career  of  the  experiment,  the  President  fell 
upon  the  hard-money  scheme.  Towards  the  end  of  the  year 
1835,  there  were  few  men  around  him  who  did  not  perceive 


THE    SUB-TREASURY.  211 

that  the  ultimate  failure  of  the  experiment  was  not  altogether 
so  impossible  an  event,  as  the  first  boastings  of  its  author 
might  have  warranted  them  in  believing.  The  President  him 
self,  it  is  very  clear,  began  to  believe  it  probable.  It  was  the 
thought  of  the  moment,  the  instinct  of  cunning,  which  prompted 
him  to  take  shelter  against  the  disgrace  of  failure,  in  that  new 
device  of  bringing  the  nation  to  the  constitutional  currency, 
the  pure  metallic  system.  We  all  remember  how  suddenly 
this  change  came  over  the  land  ;  and  we  can  never  forget  the 
efforts  of  General  Jackson  to  discredit  the  paper  system  which 
he  had  just  matured,  nor  his  strenuous  exertions  to  introduce 
coin  into  the  country.  Sir,  his  success  in  these  endeavors 
has  been  the  chief  topic  of  his  glorification.  The  frequent 
plaudits  of  his  flatterers  are  still  ringing  in  our  ears  with  the 
boast  of  the  treasures  he  had  amassed  ;  and  even  now,  they 
have  not  ceased  to  render  tribute  to  his  renown  in  this  achieve 
ment.  This  Sub-Treasury  bill  itself  is  but  another  act  of 
mean  homage  offered  up  to  him  in  that  same  shallow  glorifica 
tion — it  is  part  and  parcel  of  the  trickery  by  which  a  name  has 
been  sought  to  be  canonized,  and  a  party  enabled  to  sustain  its 
dynasty  of  imposture.  I  beg,  sir,  to  call  the  attention  of  the  com 
mittee  to  these  measures  for  increasing  the  supply  of  the  pre 
cious  metals,  and  for  retaining  them  in  the  country. 

First,  it  was  promulgated,  after  Mr.  Gouge,  and  almost  in 
the  terms  of  his  book,  that  it  was  essential  the  specie  basis 
should  be  widened  by  excluding  from  circulation  all  bank 
notes  under  the  denomination  of  one  hundred  dollars,  or  at 
least  of  fifty.  This  notion  was  embodied  in  the  treasury  con 
tracts  with  the  banks,  and  finally  in  the  currency  bill  of  1836  ; 
it  was  to  be  carried  out  by  degrees,  beginning  with  the  ex 
clusion  of  fives,  then  of  tens,  and  so  onward  to  the  ultimate 
term.  I  will  not  stop,  Mr.  Chairman,  to  inquire  into  the  policy 
of  this  measure.  It  has  proved  itself  to  be  impracticable,  and 
is  therefore  merely  nugatory ;  but  I  may  say,  in  a  word,  that 
if  the  object  in  view  were  to  render  the  bank  circulation  more 
stable,  by  fortifying  it  with  a  strong  deposit  of  the  precious 


212  POLITICAL    PAPERS. 

metals,  it  would  seem  to  be,  at  least,  a  very  doubtful  mode  of 
accomplishing  that  object,  by  compelling  the  community  to 
abstract  these  metals  from  the  banks  as  the  only  medium  of 
payment  under  the  amount  to  which  paper,  according  to  the 
scheme,  was  to  be  confined.  My  purpose  is  with  this  next, 
the  great  feature  in  this  hard-money  movement. 

We  were  creating  debt  abroad.  The  activity  of  speculation, 
to  which  I  have  already  alluded,  had  enlarged  the  demand  of 
the  country  for  commodities  of  foreign  production  as  well  as 
of  domestic.  Prices  were  on  the  increase.  Such,  in  brief, 
sir,  was  the  state  of  things  at  home.  A  prudent  government 
would  have  feared  a  foreign  debt  and  taken  some  cautions 
against  its  increase.  Not  so,  Mr.  Chairman,  with  ours.  It 
was  proclaimed  as  the  great  ambition  of  the  President,  his 
paramount  wish,  that  the  precious  metals  should  be  made  to 
abound.  New  mints  were  provided  for.  In  the  language  of 
a  conspicuous  Senator,  famous  in  the  annals  of  this  movement, 
it  was  prophecied  that  "  gold  was  to  swim  up  the  Mississippi 
in  a  never  failing  stream."  The  agent  of  the  deposit  banks, 
as  a  certain  semi-official  functionary  (Reuben  M.  Whitney) 
was  then  called,  had  orders  to  communicate  to  the  whole 
circle  of  depositories  within  his  charge,  that  it  would  be 
agreeable  to  the  President  to  learn  they  concurred  with  him 
in  the  propriety  and  importance  of  making  large  importations 
of  specie  from  abroad.  The  hint,  sir,  was  not  lost.  It  was 
not  the  temper  of  the  deposit  banks  to  frustrate  even  the 
whim  of  the  President  in  those  days — and  so  they  all  set 
about  the  work  of  importation.  In  the  mean  time,  the  Presi 
dent  himself  turned  importer  of  specie,  and  the  indemnities 
were  ordered  home,  at  great  sacrifice,  in  gold.  Individual 
merchants  were  prompted,  through  the  same  influences,  to 
engage  in  the  same  operation.  It  is  a  little  remarkable,  in 
the  change  of  times,  that  those  who  now  quarrel  with  a  State 
bank  for  purchasing  cotton  to  pay  a  foreign  debt,  should  then 
have  seen  no  harm  in  forty  banks  or  more  turning  merchants 
and  importing  gold  and  silver  to  creafesuch  a  debt.  The  amount 


THE    SUB-TREASURY.  213 

brought  into  the  country  from  Europe,  in  the  year  1835-6  has 
been  estimated  above  forty  millions  of  dollars — more  than 
thirty  of  which  came  from  England.  How  much  was  imported 
from  South  America  and  other  foreign  countries  we  have  no 
means  of  knowing ;  undoubtedly  the  amount  was  considerable. 
Sir,  with  the  exception  of  the  indemnities,  nearly  the  whole 
of  this  vast  amount  of  coin  was  brought  into  this  country  at 
the  expense  of  a  debt,  to  the  same  amount,  to  the  people  from 
whom  it  was  obtained.  It  swelled  the  already  accumulating 
balance  against  us.  It  was  brought  here  in  forced  counter 
action  of  the  laws  of  trade — against  the  principle  which  regu 
lates  supply  and  demand — in  absolute  hostility  to  the  interests 
of  our  commerce.  At  the  very  time  that  it  came  here,  we 
should  have  been  retrenching  expenditure  and  lessening  the 
foreign  debt  instead  of  increasing  it.  Our  currency  did  not 
require  this  aid  ;  we  had  in  the  country  even  more  specie  than, 
in  past  times,  had  been  found  necessary  to  the  safest  condition 
of  our  paper  issues.  As  the  balance  of  trade,  or  the  state  of 
foreign  indebtedness  which  would  have  required  remittances 
to  England  was  against  us,  so  also,  sir,  as  between  the  Atlan 
tic  States  and  the  West,  the  balance  was,  in  like  manner, 
against  the  West,  and  the  course  of  trade  required  remittances 
of  specie  from  the  West  to  the  Atlantic.  In  fact,  the  whole 
tendency  of  exchanges,  from  the  remotest  western  border, 
was  eastward  even  until  they  crossed  the  ocean.  In  this 
juncture,  the  President  was  not  only  so  absurd  as  to  direct  the 
importations  I  have  spoken  of,  but  to  go  a  step  farther  and, 
by  the  only  means  in  his  power, — means  which  an  accident 
had  put  at  his  disposal,  and  which  in  a  thousand  years  he 
might  not  have  had  again, — to  check  and  countervail  the  current 
of  domestic  exchange  between  the  West  and  the  East.  This  he 
accomplished  by  an  act  similar  in  character  to  the  importation 
of  coin  from  abroad  ; — it  was  done  by  the  instrumentality  of 
the  Treasury  Circular.  The  rage  of  speculation  in  the  public 
lands  had  already  carried  eastern  credits  to  the  West,  and 
brought  that  region  largely  in  debt  to  the  eastward ;  and  at 


214:  POLITICAL    PAPERS. 

the  very  time  when  the  people  of  the  East  were  looking  anxi 
ously  to  the  settlement,  the  circular  was  interposed,  professedly 
with  a  view  to  carry  specie  to  the  West  and  keep  it  there,  lest 
it  might  obey  the  laws  of  trade  and  go  where  it  was  wanted, 
and  where  it  could  have  afforded  relief  to  the  unnatural  pres 
sure  which  this  most  unnatural  course  of  Government  inter 
ference  had  produced. 

Mr.  Chairman,  in  all  these  measures  the  first  instincts  of 
the  people  and  of  their  representatives  were  true  to  the  sug 
gestions  of  good  sense  and  the  national  interest.  The  preva 
lence  of  these  instincts  was  only  suppressed  by  the  dictatorial 
authority  and  mischievous  popularity  of  the  Executive.  The 
bank  was  rechartered  by  Congress ;  the  removal  of  the  depos 
its  was  forbidden  by  Congress  ;  the  Land  Bill  was  passed  by 
Congress,  and  the  Treasury  Circular  rejected  by  it.  Yet  in 
each  of  these  four  cardinal  measures — the  fountains  of  all  the 
ills  the  country  has  lately  suffered — the  Executive  will  has 
outweighed  and  despised  the  Legislative  judgment;  and  by 
that  will  alone,  defying  all  other  authority  in  this  land,  have 
these  measures  been  enforced. 

Well,  sir,  the  day  of  reckoning  came.  As  money  poured  into 
this  country  from  abroad,  it  increased  our  banking  basis,  and 
therefore  increased  also  the  paper  circulation.  The  abund 
ance  of  money  raised  prices  to  a  correspondent  height.  For 
ty  millions  added  to  our  specie  circulation  could  not  do  other 
wise  than  augment  our  prices.  If  our  trade  were  confined  to 
a  domestic  circle,  if  we  had  no  concerns  with  foreign  nations, 
such  an  increase  of  price,  being  gradual,  would  cause  no  very 
signal  distress.  But  we  have  a  great  Southern  staple  which 
seeks  its  chief  market  in  a  nation  from  which  we  import  large 
amounts  of  goods,  and  which  goods,  being  generally  ordered 
in  advance  of  the  export,  are  designed  to  be  paid  for  with 
funds  arising  from  that  export.  As  nearly  as  it  may  be  counted 
on,  our  importation  from  England  is  graduated  by  the  expect 
ed  value  of  the  cotton  export.  By  the  operation  of  our  money- 
system  the  cotton  had  arisen  to  its  highest  price.  The  factors 


THE    SUB-TKEASL'KY.  215 

of  the  Atlantic  had  purchased  the  crop  at  these  high  prices 
before  it  was  gathered — even,  in  some  instances,  as  I  have 
understood,  before  it  was  grown.  It  was  paid  for  chiefly,  I 
presume,  by  a  small  advance  in  money,  and  in  notes  at  long 
dates.  The  planter  had  used  these  funds  in  purchases  of  land 
and  negroes,  at  correspondingly  high  prices,  and  had  stipula 
ted  to  pay,  as  his  factor  was  to  pay  him,  partly  in  money  and 
partly  in  notes.  And  so  the  series  of  engagements  went  on 
ward  into  other  classes  of  society. 

In  England,  sir,  the  very  reverse  operation  was  now  about 
to  take  place.  That  country  had  become  disturbed  with  our 
apparent  prosperity.  The  fame  of  rich  investments  in  Ameri 
ca  and  heavy  rates  of  interest,  and  of  the  harvest  of  specula 
tion  in  our  public  lands,  had  lured  hither  large  amounts  of 
British  capital,  a  great  deal  of  which  also  came  in  the  precious 
metals.  This  drain  of  funds  from  England  began  to  produce 
alarm,  as  soon  as  it  was  seen  that  our  Government  had  inter 
posed  itself  to  prevent  the  adjustment  of  the  mercantile  bal 
ance.  Apprehensions  were  even  expressed  there,  that  the 
Bank  of  England  might  be  driven,  by  these  demands  upon  the 
national  coin,  to  another  suspension  of  cash  payments.  It  was 
a  measure  on  the  part  of  that  bank  and  of  the  English  nation, 
not  only  of  retaliation,  but  of  absolute  self-protection,  to  bring 
values  to  the  standard  of  the  actual  state  of  her  currency,  that 
currency  reduced  to  its  proper  relation  with  the  precious  metals. 
In  other  words,  while  prices  in  the  United  States  were  rising  to 
the  standard  of  our  large  paper  issue,  they  were  falling  in 
England  to  the  standard  indicated  by  the  state  of  her  dimin 
ished  coin.  To  accomplish  this  reduction  in  England,  the 
bank  raised  the  rate  of  discount  one  per  cent,  in  June  and  July 
1836,  and  thus  produced  that  curtailment  which  immediately 
brought  down  the  prices  to  the  desired  rate.  The  effect  of  the 
operation  was  to  throw  a  loss  upon  the  shippers  of  American 
cotton  of  some  five  or,  even  perhaps,  eight  cents  a  pound. 
The  factor  in  New  Orleans  was  the  first  to  be  struck  down, 
and  after  him,  in  rapid  succession,  all  his  dependencies  on- 


216  POLITICAL    JPAPEItS. 

ward  to  the  planter,  the  land  speculator  and  the  thousand 
others  standing  in  this  connection,  came  to  the  ground  with  a 
general  crash.  The  importing  merchant  was  now  made  aware 
that  where  he  looked  for  foreign  credits  there  were  none  to 
be  had.  The  cotton  crop,  instead  of  producing  eighty  millions 
in  England,  did  not  produce  over  fifty,  and  all  who  had  count 
ed  on  this  source  for  foreign  funds  were,  of  course,  disappoint 
ed.  The  embarrassments  of  the  importer  turned  him  back  to 
the  country  dealer  for  funds  ;  the  rise  of  exchange  compelled 
him  to  seek  coin  for  remittance,  and,  at  every  step  in  his  search 
for  coin,  he  was  met  by  the  Government,  a  busy  intermeddler, 
shutting  up  the  avenues  of  trade  and  obstructing  the  only  chan 
nels  of  relief. 

The  Government  had  for  some  time  been  crying  out  against 
the  banks,  as  the  sources  of  these  approaching  evils,  and  the 
people,  especially  the  more  uninformed  part  of  them,  looking 
only  at  the  confusion  which  they  saw  in  the  currency,  joined 
in  the  cry  against  the  banks,  and  commenced  that  run  upon 
them  which  in  the  end  resulted  —  as  everybody  except  the 
Executive  had  foreseen  this  whole  movement  must  have  result 
ed — in  the  suspension  of  specie  payments. 

That  suspension,  I  think  I  have  shown,  Mr.  Chairman, 
originated  in  the  pernicious  measures  of  the  administration. 
It  was  brought  about  by  the  unskilful  and  unwise  policy  of  im 
porting  the  precious  metals  at  a  time  when  the  interests  and 
demands  of  trade  set  in  an  opposite  direction.  It  more  im 
mediately  came  from  the  extravagant  speculations  of  a  class 
of  persons  not  connected  with  the  regular  operations  of  trade 
and  commerce.  In  such  a  convulsion,  the  prudent  and  the 
wise  suffer  their  share  of  affliction  as  well  as  the  thriftless  and 
the  unwary.  Wealth,  industry  and  circumspection  are  no  safe 
guards  against  such  a  calamity  when  the  calamity  has  once 
found  footing  in  the  nation.  I  do  not  believe,  sir,  that  in  the 
ordinary  channels  of  regular  commerce,  there  has  been  any 
over-trading  or  over-banking — I  have  seen  no  evidence  to  in 
duce  such  a  conclusion.  On  the  contrary,  our  merchants  and 


THE    SUB-TKKASUEY.  217 

our  mercantile  banks  have  conducted  themselves  through  the 
difficulties  of  this  alarming  crisis  with  prudence,  moderation 
and  wisdom  worthy  of  all  praise.  The  attempt  of  the  present 
Executive  to  throw  the  blame  of  these  disasters  upon  the  mer 
chants,  is  an  act  of  such  gross  injustice  and  wickedness  as  to 
entitle  it  to  the  scorn  of  all  honorable  men.  It  is  a  base  ef- . 
fort  to  screen  the  authors  of  our  calamities  from  that  indignant 
censure  which  their  misdeeds  have  long  deserved.  The  admi 
rable  patience,  fortitude  and  fidelity  with  which  the  merchants 
of  the  United  States  addressed  themselves,  in  these  late  trials, 
to  the  task  of  sustaining  the  national  credit  and  good  faith, 
have  not  only  won  for  them  the  applause  of  their  countrymen, 
but  have  drawn  forth  the  spontaneous  and  cheerful  tribute  of 
panegyric  from  all  nations  with  whom  they  hold  intercourse. 
It  has  been  uttered  in  the  British  Parliament  from  the  lips  of 
impartial  statesmen,  in  language  which  has  found  a  response 
throughout  that  kingdom ;  and  it  will  not  be.  forgotten  here, 
sir,  as  long  as  America  shall  take  pride  in  the  integrity  and 
honorable  bearing  of  that  intelligent  and  patriotic  class  of 
her  citizens.  The  charge  was  made  in  a  spirit  which  does  no 
honor  to  its  author,  and  will  be  ever  regarded  as  the  subter 
fuge  of  a  baffled  politician,  seeking  to  find  a  scapegoat  for  his 
own  offences — and  selecting  that  body  for  his  purpose  whose 
numbers  may  be  supposed  to  render  them  the  least  available 
of  all  others  in  the  State,  in  the  electioneering  contests  for 
power.  The  truth  is,  sir,  that  the  late  administration  and  its 
successor  have  waged  a  war  against  the  banks  and  the  mer 
chants,  which  has  resulted  not  only  in  their  overthrow,  but  in 
deep  and  lasting  injury  to  the  greatest  interests  in  the  nation, 
without  producing  a  modicum  of  good,  unless  it  be  in  the 
lesson  it  has  taught  us  to  avoid  such  follies  in  time  to  come. 
It  has  of  late  become  the  fashion  to  deny  these  hostile  senti 
ments  of  the  administration  against  the  banks.  I  am  glad  to 
see  it,  sir  ;  it  is  an  indication  of  an  approaching  change  of 
policy — it  is  a  sign  of  contrition  for  past  offences.  It  is 
nevertheless  true  that  such  a  war  has  been  waged,  and  that  a 
10 


218  POLITICAL    PAPERS. 

bitter  hostility  has  been  evinced  by  the  Executive  against 
these  institutions,  and  even  now,  sir,  is  secretly  felt,  although 
not  openly  avowed.  Gentlemen  on  this  floor  have  asked  for 
the  proofs  of  this  hostility.  To  say  nothing  of  that  Trojan 
war  between  the  bank  and  the  late  administration,  with  all  its 
artillery  of  denunciation,  they  may  find  the  proofs  in  the  com 
mon  cant  of  the  day  against  what  is  termed  monopoly,  in  the 
incessant  assaults  which,  of  late  years,  have  been  directed 
against  all  corporate  bodies  and  chartered  rights,  and  in  the 
debates  of  every  State  Legislature,  where  the  administration 
party  have  had  a  voice.  They  may  find  the  proofs  in  the  daily 
diatribes  of  the  Globe  and  of  the  thousand  slave  presses 
whose  feculent  sheets  are  employed  to  scatter  far  and  wide 
this  Globe  poison.  They  may  discover  evidences  of  it  in  the 
proceedings  of  the  Pennsylvania  convention  :  sir,  it  was  pre 
dicted,  foredoomed  and  instigated  in  the  famous  letters  of 
Dallas  and  Ingersoll ;  it  was  not  less  conspicuously  exhibited 
in  the  letter  of  last  July,  from  the  Hermitage,  upon  the  occa 
sion  of  the  suspension  ;  we  had  some  inklings  of  it  even  in 
that  abortive  farce  of  a  revolution  attempted  in  Maryland  ; 
and  latest  of  all,  sir,  we  have  seen  evidences  of  it  here  on 
this  floor,  on  a  very  recent  occasion,  in  the  almost  frenzied 
gesticulation  with  which  a  gentleman  conspicuous  in  the  ranks 
of  the  administration  (Mr.  Rhett)  denounced  woe  to  all  those 
who  deal  in  banks  or  sustain  their  cause — woe  to  come  in 
threatened  popular  vengeance,  even  to  the  down-pulling  of  the 
public  edifices,  the  ovei  throw  of  social  order  and  the  peril 
of  the  domestic  hearth.  These,  sir,  are  some  of  the  proofs 
of  that  war  of  the  administration  against  the  banks  :  let  gen 
tlemen  point  me  to  any  evidence  of  hostility  from  the  banks 
against  the  Government  of  which  so  much  has  been  said  in 
this  debate. 

Mr.  Chairman,  I  have  presented  to  the  committee  what  I 
conceive  to  be  the  leading  events  in  that  train  of  government 
policy,  to  which  the  nation  is  indebted  for  all  it  has  suffered. 
I  will  beg  to  say  a  few  words  upon  the  nature  of  the  remedy 


THE    SUB-TREASUIiY.  '2  1 !.) 

which,  in  my  judgment,  this  retrospect  suggests  as  the  only  one 
appropriate  to  the  case. 

In  the  first  place,  I  wish  to  see  a  solid  and  permanent  re 
sumption  of  specie  payments  as  speedily  as  that  can  be  accom 
plished  ;  and  I  am  fully  convinced  that  this  bill  would  not 
only  retard  the  resumption,  but  render  its  continuance  even  a 
matter  of  great  uncertainty. 

In  the  next  place,  I  wish  to  see  the  creation  of  a  National 
Bank, — believing  that  to  be  the  only  possible  device  or  instru 
ment  by  which  we  may  hope  to  establish  and  maintain  a  good 
currency  in  the  country.  Sir,  I  am  persuaded  that  the  greater 
part  of  the  people  of  the  United  States  now  entertain  this  con 
viction,  and  that,  day  by  day,  as  we  grow  older  in  experience, 
that  conviction  will  be  extended.  Nothing  can  be  more  arti 
ficial  than  the  public  sentiment  which  has  been  conjured  up 
against  such  an  institution.  That  sentiment  was  fabricated 
here,  at  Washington,  and  circulated  under  the  auspices,  and  by 
the  force  of  party  dictation,  without  even  the  semblance  of  con 
sultation  with  the  people.  I  cannot  for  a  moment  doubt  that 
if  the  deliberate  opinion  of  the  country  upon  this  question 
were  polled,  after  every  man  had  made  himself  acquainted  with 
the  real  nature  and  value  of  the  proposition,  nine-tenths  would 
give  their  suffrage  in  favor  of  a  National  Bank.  I  speak  not, 
sir,  of  the  late  Bank  of  the  United  States — although  I  know 
nothing  to  the  disparagement  of  that  institution — but  of  such 
a  bank  as  may  be  matured  by  the  wisdom  of  Congress,  guarded 
by  such  provisions  as  past  experience  may  have  demonstrated 
to  be  necessary,  and  clothed  with  all  the  powers  requisite  to  the 
discharge  of  that  great  national  function  which  I  have  attempt 
ed,  in  the  course  of  my  remarks  to  explain.  Such  a  bank,  sir,  I 
repeat,  would  meet,  if  I  do  not  greatly  mistake  the  judgment 
of  our  day,  the  approbation  of  by  far  the  larger  portion  of  the 
citizens  of  the  Union.  There  are  many,  sir,  I  know,  who  en 
tertain  constitutional  scruples  on  this  question.  They  belong 
to  a  hopeless  race  of  men  who  must  live  out  their  day,  ands 
leave  the  settlement  of  their  doubts  to  another  generation.  I 


POLITICAL    1'Al'EliS. 

will  not  argue  with  them.  To  the  gentlemen  from  Virginia,  es 
pecially,  I  say,  that  I  will  not  consent  to  moot  constitutional 
points  with  them  ;  it  is  encouraging  them  in  a  vicious  habit 
which  has  already  sufficiently  retarded  the  growth  and  power 
of  that  venerable  Mother  of  States.  Let  Virginia  give  up  her 
dialectics,  renounce  her  spirit  of  dissertation  and  debate,  and 
betake  herself  to  commerce  and  manufactures :  let  her  do 
this  and  thrive  ;  let  her  still  neglect  it,  and  it  may  be  her 
fate  —  (here  Mr.  Wise  added — to  die  of  an  abstraction)  —  I 
adopt  the  gentleman's  expression,  though  I  hope  a  better  des 
tiny  awaits  her — "  to  die  of  an  abstraction." 

Sir,  the  efficacy  of  a  bank  in  the  regulation  of  a  currency 
has  been  conceded  on  all  sides.  The  late  administration,  in 
all  its  zeal  to  destroy,  was  obliged  to  concede  it.  The  history 
of  the  war  against  that  bank  is  full  of  acknowledgment  of  its 
usefulness  to  the  currency.  When  Gen.  Jackson  first  assailed 
it,  he  endeavored  to  sustain  his  opposition  to  it  on  the  plea  that 
it  had  failed  to  perform  this  function  of  regulating  the  curren 
cy  to  the  satisfaction  of  the  country.  He  was  signally  defeat- 
in  this  position  by  his  own  friends.  The  charge  was  referred 
to  the  investigation  of  both  Houses  of  Congress.  In  both,  com 
mittees  were  raised  of  the  ablest  men  in  the  nation,  strong, 
devoted  friends  of  the  President :  their  reports  are  among 
your  records — they  give  the  most  explicit  and  unqualified  con 
tradiction  of  the  President's  allegations  against  the  usefulness 
of  the  institution.  No  one  will  suspect  the  late  Governor  of 
South  Carolina,  Mr.  McDuffie,  nor  the  present  Mayor  of  Bal 
timore,  Gen.  Smith  (the  respective  chairmen  of  the  committees 
of  the  House  and  of  the  Senate  on  this  inquiry),  of  a  disposi 
tion,  at  that  time,  either  causelessly  to  discredit  the  Presi 
dent's  opinion,  or  to  misrepresent  the  value  of  the  bank — and 
yet  their  reports  were  full  and  conclusive  on  the  question. 
Ever  since  that  time  the  ground  of  attack  has  been  changed, 
and  now,  instead  of  affirming  the  incompetency  of  a  bank  to 
perform  the  duties  assigned  to  it  with  advantage  to  the  nation, 
the  whole  stock  of  party  vituperation  and  all  the  oratorical 


THE    SUB-TREASURY.  221 

pruriency  of  party  declaimers,  are  exhausted  in  painting  the 
danger  of  such  an  institution  to  public  liberty,  and  in  fearful 
summonings  of  the  terrors  of  the  money-power. 

It  is  odd  enough,  Mr.  Chairman,  to  hear  these  appeals  to 
the  frighted  imagination  of  the  country  against  this  phantom 
of  the  money-power,  urged,  if  not  by  the  gentleman  himself, 
at  least  by  the  friends  and  coadjutors  of  the  gentleman  from 
New  York  (Mr.  Cambreleng),  who  has  lavished  such  encomi 
ums  upon  the  new  Free  Banking  of  his  own  State  ;  that  system 
of  banking  which  is  not  to  supercede  the  old,  but  which  is  to 
reinforce  it  with  additional  means,  —  a  cumulative,  auxiliary 
system  of  banking  without  stint  or  limit — 

"  giving  its  sum  of  more 
To  that  which  had  too  much," 

and  intended  to  increase  the  money-power  of  New  York  far 
beyond  the  utmost  limit  heretofore  assigned  to  a  National  Bank. 
What  is  this  formidable  money-power  that  has  so  disturbed 
the  fancies  of  gentlemen  here,  and  the  equanimity  of  the  nation  ? 
Our  laws  recognize  no  distinctions  of  rank  or  class  among 
our  citizens.  We  have  secured  the  rights  of  property  as  car 
dinal  in  our  social  constitution.  It  is  well  appointed  that  labor, 
diligence  and  skill  shall  have  their  reward,  and  that  reward  be 
preserved  inviolate  from  aggression.  Under  this  protection, 
this  whole  nation  of  working  people  has  grown  up  into  a  mar 
vellous  power  of  combined  wealth,  intelligence  and  comfort  un 
exampled.  It  is  of  the  nature  of  wealth  to  attain  social  power 
and  influence  :  it  is  a  valuable  feature  in  our  system  that  it 
should  do  so  ;  but  every  one  must  remark  how  small  is  its 
tendency,  how  inadequate  its  efforts  to  obtain  political  power. 
The  jealousy  of  wealth,  the  watchfulness  of  its  assumptions,  the 
common  suspicions  entertained  against  it,  almost  amount  to  a 
popular  proscription  of  its  hopes,  for  political  elevation,  and 
even  strip  it  of  the  influence  to  which  it  is  justly  entitled. 
"  Whoso" — says  a  nervous  English  writer — "  has  sixpence,  is 
sovereign  (to  the  length  of  sixpence)  over  the  whole  world. 


222  POLITICAL    PAPERS. 

He  commands  cooks  to  feed  him,  philosophers  to  teach  him, 
and  kings  to  mount  guard  over  him — to  the  length  of  sixpence." 
This,  sir,  is  an  epitome  of  the  money-power.  It  accumulates 
social  comfort  and  social  strength  :  it  makes  men  and  states 
more  happy,  prosperous  and  impregnable  from  without.  Would 
you  seek  the  external  manifestation  of  that  power,  you  shall 
see  it,  sir,  in  the  subdued  wilderness  of  our  frontier  ;  in  our 
great  rivers  cleft  by  the  keels  of  a  thousand  steamboats ;  in 
our  plains  and  valleys  as  they  yield  their  tribute  to  the  labor 
of  husbandry.  You  shall  witness  it  in  the  smoking  forges  of 
the  West,  and  in  the  swift  shuttles  of  the  East ;  in  the  cities, 
towns  and  villages  which  adorn  and  enliven  the  land ;  in  our 
churches,  hospitals,  colleges  and  schools.  You  shall  note  it  in 
the  quiet  and  substantial  homesteads  of  our  people,  and  in  the 
happy  faces  that  gather  around  those  firesides,  such  as  the  like 
may  nowhere  else  be  found.  You  shall  hear  it  in  the  carol 
of  the  ploughman  as  he  traces  his  furrow,  and  in  the  blithe  song 
of  the  sailor-boy,  at  the  masthead,  when  he  plies  his  voyage 
to  the  remote  shores  of  Europe  or  Asia ;  in  the  heavy-creak 
ing  wagon,  the  flying  steam-car  and  the  rattling  stage-coach  ; — 
in  short,  sir,  you  may  hear  and  see  it  in  all  the  avenues  where 
trade  and  industry  ply  their  busy  and  profitable  thrift.  It  is 
the  secret,  the  miracle  of  the  might  of  this  Anglo-American 
man  !  What  is  there  to  dread  in  it  ? 

Mr.  Chairman,  I  turn  from  these  considerations  to  a  review 
of  the  bill  before  us.  The  friends  of  this  measure  affect  to  be 
lieve  that  our  long-established  system  of  banking  was  princi 
pally  objectionable  from  the  instability  of  the  currency  which 
it  created,  and  from  its  power  of  producing  panic  and  pressure 
upon  the  country  ;  they  declare  themselves  unwilling  to  entrust 
the  public  treasure  to  the  keeping  of  any  such  agency,  holding 
it  to  be  insecure  ;  and  they  present  us  this  bill  as  the  correct 
ive  of  each  of  these  defects.  They  speak,  sir,  of  the  patron 
age  and  influence  of  the  banking  system  with  a  disinterested 
horror,  and  boast  that,  by  this  new  contrivance  of  a  Sub- 
Treasury,  they  clip  the  wings  of  patronage  and  reduce  it  to  in- 


THE    SUE-TREASURY.  223 

significance.     Let  us  examine  this  bill  to  ascertain  how  far  it 
realizes  these  promises. 

I  think  it  may  be  assumed,  from  the  fact  of  this  question 
being  pressed  upon  the  House  after  the  repeal  of  the  Treasury 
Circular,  that  it  is  the  purpose  of  the  administration  to  revive 
that  circular  with  even  a  broader  scope  than  it  had  before. 
Indeed,  sir,  this  bill  itself  provides  for  a  gradual  substitution 
of  gold  and  silver  for  paper  in  the  payment  of  all  public  debts, 
and  designs  ultimately  to  reject  all  paper.  I  take  it  for  grant 
ed,  notwithstanding  this  specie  clause  was  struck  out  of  the 
Senate  bill,  it  is  not  to  be  struck  out  here,  and  that  we  are 
eventually  to  have  the  policy  of  the  specie  circular  renewed 
and  extended.  In  that  view,  I  beg  leave  to  invite  the  atten 
tion  of  the  committee  to  the  eventual  operation  of  this  meas 
ure.  Your  revenue  may  be  rated  at  some  thirty  millions. 
These  are  to  be  paid  in  gold  and  silver,  and  placed  in  the 
custody  of  the  receivers  or  other  officers  of  the  treasury.  How 
are  they  to  be  distributed  ?  The  Government  will  have  disburse 
ments  to  make  to  the  full  amount,  perhaps,  of  the  revenue ; 
but  the  coin,  sir,  will  be  but  partially  used  in  these  disburse 
ments.  The  Treasury  will  draw  warrants,  drafts,  or  orders  on 
the  fund,  which  may  be  put  forth  to  any  amount,  of  any  denom 
ination,  and  in  any  form,  that  the  Secretary  may  choose.  They 
will  be  printed  on  bank  paper  and  engraved  with  all  the  exte 
rior  symbols  of  a  bank  note,  and  may  be  adapted  to  circulation, 
as  money,  to  any  extent  that  the  head  of  the  treasury  shall 
direct.  These  drafts  will  constitute  a  circulating  medium,  and 
the  Government  will  so  far  become  a  bank  of  circulation.  That 
this  paper  will  be  safe,  no  one  will  deny  :  the  objection  to  the 
system  does  not  lie  against  the  stability  of  the  paper,  but  it  does 
lie  most  cogently  against  the  power  which  this  faculty  of  mak 
ing  paper  shall  give  to  the  Executive.  Such  a  paper  kept  in 
circulation  may  ultimately  represent  the  whole  revenue  of  the 
nation,  while  the  coin  upon  which  it  is  issued,  or  a  great  part 
of  it,  will  be  locked  up  in  the  Government  custody.  The  Gov 
ernment  refusing  to  receive  any  thing  but  coin  for  public  dues, 


224  POLITICAL    PAPKKS. 

will  render  coin  at  all  times  a  subject  of  mercantile  demand, 
and  will  thus  establish  a  current  of  business,  the  effect  of  which 
will  constantly  be  to  act  upon  the  banks  of  the  country  and  to 
keep  them  stinted  in  their  supply  of  the  precious  metals,  or,  at 
least,  ever  in  apprehension  of  this  drain  upon  their  money-re 
sources.  The  city  of  New  York,  sir,  collects  about  ten  millions 
of  the  revenue.  This  amount,  according  to  the  system,  is  to  be 
entrusted  to  the  hands  of  one  man.  It  is  not  at  all  impossible  to 
administer  this  proposed  law  in  such  a  manner  as  to  collect 
the  whole  ten  millions  in  specie,  and  retain  that  sum  in  the 
city  of  New  York.  The  amount  of  gold  and  silver  employed 
to  sustain  the  bank  circulation  of  that  city  is  usually,  I  believe, 
but  little  above  three  millions.  That  coin  would  be  drawn 
into  the  hands  of  the  receiver,  leaving  the  banks  either  under  a 
compulsion  to  import  specie  from  abroad,  or  to  become  suppli 
cants  for  its  restoration  by  the  Government.  The  nth  and 
1 2th  sections  of  the  bill  give  the  Secretary  power  to  transfer 
these  funds  from  any  one  point  to  any  other,  at  his  own  discre 
tion.  In  the  execution  of  this  power  he  may,  in  a  clay,  drain 
the  city  of  New  York  or  Philadelphia,  Boston  or  Baltimore  of 
the  Government  deposit  of  specie,  or  equally,  at  his  pleasure, 
accumulate  the  whole  at  either  of  these  points,  producing 
scarcity  or  abundance,  exactly  as  it  may  gratify  his  purpose  of 
reward  or  punishment,  his  political  favoritism  or  displeasure. 

The  Government  has  now,  sir,  some  five  millions  to  pay  in 
Florida.  Suppose  the  same  obligation  in  existence  with  this 
bill  the  law  of  the  land.  The  five  millions  would  be  drawn  in 
warrants  payable  in  New  York.  These  warrants  would  be  sent 
to  the  South  just  as  exchange  was  valuable  on  the  North,  and 
every  warrant  would  be  a  bill  of  exchange,  salable  at  a  pre 
mium.  The  Government  is  thus  converted  into  an  exchange 
merchant,  making  its  profit  according  to  the  rates  of  the  day. 
Even  when  there  is  nothing  to  be  paid  for  public  disburse 
ments  in  the  South,  still  may  the  Secretary,  under  this  bill, 
draw  his  warrants  on  northern  funds,  and  throw  them  into  the 
southern  market,  to  take  advantage  of  these  operations  of  ex. 


THE    SUB-TREASURY.  225 

change.  Every  one  must  see,  Mr.  Chairman,  that  the  powers 
conferred  by  this  bill,  and  the  absolute  control  of  the  dispo 
sition  of  the  Government  revenues,  are  neither  more  nor  less 
than  the  machinery  which  shall  constitute  the  Executive  a 
great  national  banking  power,  with  faculty  to  furnish  circula 
tion  and  deal  in  exchange,  to  the  full  amount  of  the  fund  at 
its  disposal.  It  is  an  easy  step,  sir,  to  get  the  privilege,  on 
any  casual  pretext,  of  issuing,  as  we  .have  lately  done,  Treasury 
notes  to  some  large  extent,  and  you  have,  in  the  result,  the 
banking  power  carried  out  to  its  utmost  scope. 

Is  there  no  field  here,  for  party  favor  ?  What  shall  be  the 
rates  of  exchange  ?  Shall  not  the  Government  sell  below  par 
to  one  man,  at  par  to  another,  and  above  to  a  third  ?  Who 
shall  prevent  it  ?  We  may  easily  imagine  the  inducements 
which  might  persuade  a  Government  agent  to  gratify  a  political 
friend,  or  disappoint  a  political  adversary  in  these  dealings. 
Yes,  sir,  and  we  may  imagine,  too,  the  motives  that  may  arise 
to  punish  a  whole  city  obnoxious  to  Executive  displeasure,  by 
removing  the  deposits  -or  withholding  exchange,  and  to  re 
ward  another  more  complaisant  in  its  feelings  and  respect 
for  the  higher  powers.  The  enginery  is  here  which  may  serve 
this  turn  to  any  extent.  This  power  of  transfer  contained  in 
the  nth  and  i2th  sections  of  the  bill,  is  an  admirable  machine 
to  produce  obedience  and  submission,  and  I  will  undertake  to 
prophecy  that  if  this  bill  be  passed,  the  Government  will  have 
no  cause  to  complain  of  the  refractory  demeanor  of  the  fiscal 
agent  at  Portsmouth.  J  am  still,  sir,  so  unreformed  by  modern 
schooling  as  to  think  that,  in  the  concerns  which  relate  to  trade 
and  currency,  it  is  much  safer  to  confide  in  the  integrity,  the 
habits  of  business,  the  intelligence  and  interests  of  a  board 
of  merchant  directors,  than  incur  the  hazard  of  the  selfish 
and  obsequious  spirit,  the  alien  temper  and  unskilfulness  of  a 
mere  political  functionary. 

Mr.  Chairman,  if  the  revenue  is  not  to  be  collected  in  gold 
and  silver,  but,  adopting  the  policy  of  the  new  Treasury  order, 
it  is  to  be  received  in  bank  paper,  the  power  conferred  by  this 


226  POLITICAL    PAPERS. 

bill  is  still  more  mischievous.  Suppose,  sir,  the  ten  millions 
of  New  York  to  be  received  in  the  notes  of  specie-paying 
banks,  what  will  be  the  result  ?  You  will  have  a  Governmen< 
agent  in  that  city  continually  clothed  with  the  power  of  visit 
ing  the  banks,  according  to  the  caprice  of  Government  dicta 
tion,  with  the  demand  for  coin  ;— one  hundred  thousand  dollars 
exacted  to-day  from  one  bank,  another  hundred  to-morrow  from 
another ; — indulgence  and  forbearance  extended  to  one  and 
denied  to  another.  The  price  of  this  favor  we  may  be  at  no 
loss  to  conjecture — obedience,  implicit  obedience  to  the  pleas 
ure  of  the  Executive.  What  would  be  the  effect  of  such  de 
mands  ?  Why,  sir,  immediate  action  on  the  whole  circle  of 
customers  of  the  bank.  A  sudden  call  for  a  large  amount  of 
coin  requires  curtailment  of  discount  and  pressure  upon  the 
debtors  of  the  bank.  Can  you  conceive,  sir,  a  more  potent  en 
gine  of  panic  and  commercial  distress  than  this  power  of  de 
manding  coin  ?  And  yet,  sir,  it  is  not  only  conferred  by  this 
bill,  but  it  is  essential  to  the  system  that  it  should  be  exercised. 
Nothing  can  be  more  absurd  than  to  -suppose  all  this  appara 
tus  of  the  Sub-Treasury  erected  to  preserve  bank  paper — the 
very  foundation  of  the  system,  as  I  remarked  at  the  outset,  is 
the  collection  in  coin,  or  the  conversion  of  the  deposits  into 
coin. 

The  power  of  combining  against  a  bank  to  draw  its  specie, 
even  in  ordinary  circumstances,  is  one  which  excites  alarm. 
The  difficulty  of  such  combination,  as  well  as  the  disinclination 
of  the  public  to  abstract  the  coin,  is  the  great  protection  of  the 
banks.  But  here,  sir,  we  have  ready  made  to  our  hand  an 
agent,  with  all  this  power  of  combination  in  his  single  self  and 
in  its  worst  shape  j  an  agent,  too,  holding  no  interest  in  com 
mon  with  the  community,  unsympathizing,  cold-blooded  and 
heartless  as  regards  their  wants  or  wishes — whom  it  is  his 
prerogative  and  office  fo  disturb  and  distress  as  often  as  his 
own  or  his  master's  fancy  shall  impel  him.  I  put  no  trust  in 
such  functionaries.  I  do  not  even,  sir,  like  the  name  which 
this  bill  gives  them — these  Receivers-General.  I  remember  an 


THE    SUB-TREASURY.  227 

anecdote  of  Voltaire  which  somewhat  prejudices  me  against 
the  tribe.  A  circle  of  the  friends  of  the  philosopher  were  pass 
ing  a  winter  evening  at  Ferney.  It  was  proposed  to  beguile 
the  time  by  telling  robber-stories.  Everybody  had  invented 
his  tale  ; — Rousseau  had  told  one  of  thrilling  horror.  When 
Voltaire  was  called  on,  he  began  as  follows  :  "  There  was  once 
upon  a  time  a  receiver-general  —  my  friends,  I  have  forgot 
ten  the  rest."  It  was  unanimously  voted  that  this  was  the 
greatest  robber-story  of  all.  I  fear,  sir,  these  Receivers. 

I  think,  Mr.  Chairman,  it  is  very  obvious  to  calm  reflec 
tion,  that  this  Sub-Treasury  scheme  will  entirely  fail  in  the  ac 
complishment  of  any  promise  which  its  friends  hold  out  : — that 
it  will  weaken  and  render  more  unstable  the  currency  of  the 
banks  ;  that  it  will  rather  furnish  means  and  occasion  for  pan 
ic  and  pressure,  than  remove  them  ;  that  its  patronage  and  in 
fluence  are  infinitely  more  formidable  than  those  of  the  bank  ; 
and  that  its  pledge  of  greater  security  to  the  public  treasure  is 
altogether  illusory ;  that,  in  short,  it  proposes  a  new  system 
for  regulating  the  public  moneys,  clumsy  and  awkward  in  its 
detail,  highly  inconvenient  to  the  commerce  of  the  country, 
dangerous  in  the  powers  it  confers  upon  the  Executive,  and 
most  mischievously  hostile  to  the  safety  and  usefulness  of  our 
banking  system. 

In  addition,  sir,  to  these  objections,  which  are  suggested 
by  the  views  the  friends  of  the  bill  have  taken  of  its  character, 
and  upon  which  I  have  forborne  to  dwell  with  more  than  a 
passing  notice,  I  have  a  still  deeper  aversion  to  it  founded  on 
the  general  principles,  in  regard  to  the  currency,  which  it  was 
my  principal  object  to  illustrate  in  this  speech.  It  fails  to 
erect,  in  any  safe  or  useful  form,  that  central  power  of  Federal 
control  which  I  think  essential  to  a  permanent  and  sound  cur 
rency  ;  it  also  furnishes  an  artificial  necessity  for  occasional 
Government  influence  or  direction  in  the  importation  of  the  pre 
cious  metals — an  influence  altogether  pernicious  in  its  charac 
ter.  For  these  reasons,  sir,  I  utterly  abhor  and  reject  this  bill. 


228  POLITICAL    PAPERS. 


SPEECH 

ON  THE  BILL  MAKING  APPROPRIATIONS  FOR  THE  CIVIL  AND 
DIPLOMATIC  SERVICE'  FOR  THE  YEAR  1839.  DELIVER 
ED  IN  THE  HOUSE  OF  REPRESENTATIVES,  FEBRUARY  19, 
1839. 

THE  bill  making  appropriations  for  the  civil  and  diplo 
matic  service  for  the  year  1839  being  under  considera 
tion,  in  Committee  of  the  Whole  on  the  state  of  the  Union  ; 
and  the  question  being  on  the  amendment  to  strike  out  the 
appropriation  for  the  pay  of  the  Commissioners  of  the  Navy — 
Mr.  Kennedy  addressed  the  Chair  as  follows  : 
Mr.  Chairman :    When  I  obtained  the  floor  at  the  close  of 
the  last  sitting  of  the  committee,  it  was  not  my  purpose  to  ad 
dress  my  remarks  particularly  to  the  amendment  under  con 
sideration.     I  wished  to  carry  the  debate  into  a  wider  field, 
and  to  look  at  the  general  condition  of  affairs  under  the  pres 
ent  administration. 

It  seemed  to  me  that  both  the  time  and  the  mode  of 
abolishing  the  Navy  Board,  which  was  the  design  of  this 
amendment,  were  singularly  inopportune.  The  House  had 
neither  the  information  proper  to  its  action  in  this  matter,  nor 
the  leisure,  so  near  the  end  of  the  session,  to  give  the  subject 
the  consideration  it  deserved.  The  debate  itself  has  disclosed 
the  want  of  accurate  knowledge  essential  to  the  just  determi 
nation  of  the  question,  and  has  demonstrated,  I  think,  the 
impropriety  of  acting  upon  it  at  the  present  time.  It  is  true, 
great  complaints  are  abroad  against  the  efficiency  of  the 
Board,  and  opinions  unfavorable  to  its  continuance  are  enter- 


DIPLOMATIC    APPROPRIATIONS.  229 

tained  by  many  judicious  persons.  I  am  not  insensible  to  the 
weight  of  these  opinions,  and  incline,  in  advance  of  all  inquiry, 
to  think  that  the  duties  assigned  to  the  Board  might  be  more 
advantageously  discharged  under  individual  supervision.  As 
a  practical  rule,  I  would  rather  intrust  to  a  single  head  those 
functions  which  require  much  energy  and  judgment  for  their 
performance,  than  to  any  board,  no  matter  how  intelligent. 
Still,  sir,  this  is  a  question  of  experience  ;  and  I  should  be 
loath,  on  the  instant,  to  assail  an  organization  which  has  been 
in  existence  for  twenty  years,  without  the  amplest  investiga 
tion  and  advice.  I  am  glad  to  see  that  the  House  has  fallen 
into  this  opinion.  The  resolution  submitted  by  the  gentleman 
from  Virginia  (Mr.  Mallory),  this  morning,  and  adopted  by 
the  House,  referring  this  question  to  the  Secretary  for  a  formal 
report  at  the  next  session,  indicates  a  design  to  act  only  upon 
full  information,  and,  for  the  present,  must  dispose  of  the 
amendment. 

I  concur,  Mr.  Chairman,  in  the  remark  which  fell  from  the 
venerable  gentleman  from  Massachusetts  (Mr.  Adams),  that 
much  of  the  complaint  which  has  been  raised  against  the 
Commissioners  of  the  Navy,  would  perhaps,  upon  examina 
tion,  be  found  to  lie  more  justly  at  the  door  of  the  head  of  the 
Navy  Department — even,  perchance,  of  the  President  himself. 
It  seldom  happens  in  a  well-ordered  Government  that  the  sub 
ordinates  fail  to  perform  their  duty  when  they  have  an  efficient 
head.  The  navy  has  been  sadly  in  want  of  direction  for  the 
last  four  or  five  years.  No  branch  of  the  administration  has 
been  so  much  left  to  chance,  or  to  the  guidance  of  a  feeble 
hand  ;  and  it  is,  therefore,  not  to  be  wondered  that  complaints 
should  be  rife  against  the  management  of  this  Department  of 
the  service  throughout  all  its  branches.  Something,  sir,  of  the 
common  discontent  which  is  said  to  exist  against  the  Board  is 
due  to  this  cause. 

I  still  more  cordially  agree  with  the  remark  of  the  same 
honorable  gentleman  to  whom  I  have  just  alluded,  that  a 
thorough  examination  of  each  and  all  the  Departments  of  the 


230  POLITICAL    PAPERS. 

Government  would  lead  to  results  eminently  beneficial  to  the 
public  welfare.  Never  was  there  an  administration,  in  this 
country  at  least,  or  perhaps  in  any  other,  more  likely  to  reward 
the  toil  of  those  who  should  devote  themselves  to  an  investiga 
tion  of  its  doings.  From  the  glimpses  of  abuse  with  which  we 
have  occasionally  been  favored,  we  may  infer  a  great  amount 
of  concealed  malversation. 

Sir,  we  know  nothing  of  the  real  condition  of  the  Depart 
ments,  but  from  these  glimpses.  The  people  are  permitted  to 
learn  only  by  accident  the  state  of  the  administration  con 
cerns.  Now  and  then  some  pampered  favorite  of  "  the  party," 
some  conspicuous  and  much -trusted  friend  of  the  ruling 
power,  perpetrates  a  larceny  and  flies — and  the  fact,  too  no 
torious  for  concealment,  bursts  on  the  public  view  :  now  and 
then  a  defaulting  sub-treasurer  grows  contumacious  to  the  re 
iterated  supplications  and  prayers  of  the  Secretary,  and  pre 
fers  exposure  with  its  profits  to  settlement  and  the  smiles  of 
the  chief — and  thus  again  the  people  are  indulged  with  a  de 
velopment  :  now  and  then,  upon  the  calls  of  this  House,  in  fla 
grant  cases,  which  not  even  party  hardihood  can  brave,  some 
reluctant  confession,  beyond  the  art  of  stratagem  to  evade,  is 
vouchsafed  to  the  nation — and  we  again  get  glimpses  of  the 
truth. 

It  seems  indeed,  sir,  to  be  a  premeditated  plan  of  "  the 
party"  in  this  House  to  resist,  upon  various  pretexts,  these 
calls  for  information  touching  the  conduct  of  the  Departments 
in  matters  where  abuse  may  be  supposed  to  exist.  It  is  now 
six  weeks  since  I  myself — having  reason  to  believe  that  some 
irregularity  at  least — some  extravagance  perhaps — or  some 
favoritism  existed  in  the  manner  in  which  the  supplies  of  arti 
cles,  not  enumerated  or  reported  in  the  yearly  published  contracts, 
were  furnished  to  the  different  navy  yards — submitted  a  reso 
lution  to  call  on  the  Secretary  for  information  as  to  the  prices 
at  which  these  articles  had  been  procured  during  the  past  year. 
It  did  not  enter  into  my  thoughts,  when  I  submitted  that 
resolution,  to  charge  any  officer  of  the  Government  with  inten- 


DIPLOMATIC    APPROPRIATIONS.  231 

tional  abuse  :  I  knew  nothing  calculated  to  awaken  suspicion, 
except  that  very  extravagant  prices  were  alleged  to  have  been 
paid  ;  and  I  did  not  doubt  that  the  House,  respecting  the  ob 
vious  motive  of  the  call,  and  acknowledging  its  propriety, 
would  have  treated  it  as  an  ordinary  movement  of  sound  and 
wholesome  legislation — that  the  calJ  would  have  been  granted, 
sir,  as  a  matter  of  course.  Yet,  it  was  refused,  not  by  a  direct 
vote,  but  by  a  refusal  to  suspend  the  rules ;  as  if  the  House 
could  not  afford  the  time  from  other  business  for  this  light 
matter.  I  renewed  my  motion  day  after  day,  praying  the 
House  to  grant  me  this  favor.  Other  resolutions  were  taken 
up  and  passed,  by  the  suspension  of  the  rules,  almost  every 
morning  of  the  session  ;  mine  was  always  refused,  and  refused 
at  every  trial  by  mere  party  votes.  I  found  very  early  that 
the  proposition  excited  uneasiness  among  some  prominent 
friends  of  the  administration.  I  was  even  informed  that,  by  a 
private  application  to  the  Secretary,  I  might  procure  the  in 
formation  I  wished  ;  while  those  who  suggested  this,  either 
voted  against  my  resolution  or  refused  to  vote  at  all.  Such  an 
opposition  to  an  ordinary  inquiry,  as  I  deemed  it,  could  not 
but  excite  suspicions  against  the  integrity  of  the  management 
of  that  branch  of  service  to  which  it  referred.  During  the 
pendency  of  this  question,  I  have  received  letters  from  differ 
ent  quarters,  which  assure  me  that  great  and  flagrant  abuse 
will  be  found  in  the  distribution  of  these  unpublished  con 
tracts,  whenever  the  administration  shall  be  disposed  to  favor 
the  people  with  a  knowledge  of  its  own  proceedings. 

An  honorable  gentleman  from  Kentucky  (Mr.  Underwood), 
has  fared  no  better  than  myself.  He  offered,  some  days  ago, 
a  resolution  for  inquiry  into  the  mode  in  which  supplies  are 
furnished  to  the  army  in  Florida.  He  too  has  been  denied 
that  information  by  a  party  vote.  The  absurd  rule  that  re 
quires  two-thirds  of  the  House  to  agree  to  take  up  such  reso 
lutions  for  consideration,  has,  in  both  of  these  cases,  enabled 
the  administration  party  on  this  floor,  although  in  a  minority, 
to  frustrate  our  endeavors  to  learn  something  of  the  transac- 


232  POLITICAL    PAPERS. 

tions  of  the  Government  in  the  matters  to  which  they  referred. 
It  is  apparent  that  we  may  indulge  but  little  hope,  during  the 
present  organization  of  this.  House,  to  penetrate  into  the  se 
crets  of  the  administration  ;  but  the  time,  I  would  fain  believe, 
is  not  very  remote  when  a  searching  inspection  of  the  hidden 
machinery  may  no  longer  be  parried  by  the  tactics  of  party. 
Another  year,  and  this  duty  will  fall  into  the  hands  of  those 
who,  whatever  may  be  their  imputed  want  of  qualification  in 
other  respects,  will  not  be  charged,  even  by  their  enemies, 
with  a  suspected  favor  or  affection  for  the  delinquents.  The 
fruits  of  such  an  examination  cannot  be  otherwise  than  whole 
some. 

From  this  investigation,  Mr.  Chairman,  whenever  it  shall 
be  undertaken,  I  am  not  unprepared  to  expect  the  disclosure 
of  flagrant  errors  and  misdeeds  in  the  management  of  the 
public  concerns.  The  calm,  impartial  judgment  of  the  country 
rests  with  a  deep  and  melancholy  consciousness  upon  such  an 
expectation  ;  nay,  sir,  even  the  friends  of  the  predominant 
power  itself  are  alarmed  by  it,  and  writhe  under  it.  The  errors 
of  this  administration  are  the  necessary  products  of  that  state 
of  things  which  brought  it  into  power.  Its  misdoing  is  not 
less  its  misfortune  than  its  fault — attributable  in  as  large  a 
degree  to  its  want  of  sagacity  as  to  its  evil  inclinations  :  it  is 
the  natural  offspring  of  INCAPACITY. 

It  is  now  just  ten  years  since  the  elevation  to  the  Presiden 
tial  chair  of  the  most  remarkable  man  of  our  times  ; — remark 
able  as  much  for  the  intrinsic  properties  of  his  character,  as 
for  the  singular  good  fortune  that  attended  him  through  life. 
The  era  of  his  election  to  the  Presidency  was  once  called 
the  ERA  OF  REFORM.  Some  still  affect  to  call  it  by  that  name. 
To  my  mind,  it  is  chiefly  memorable  as  the  commencement  of 
a  great  delusion — an  imposture  conducted  with  no  ordinary 
ability,  and  propagating  its  principles  by  troops  of  political 
Islamites  as  fervent,  as  obsequious,  and  as  numerous  as  the 
faithful  who  swarmed  beneath  the  grotesque  banner  of  the 
Eastern  prophet.  Ten  years  have  gone  by  since  that  eventful 


DIPLOMATIC    APPROPRIATIONS.  233 

epoch,  ten  long  years  of  various  fortune,  in  which,  if  the  hap 
piness  of  the  American  people  has  not  been  increased,  we  may 
confidently  affirm  that  large  and  valuable  additions  have  been 
made  to  their  experience.  The  occasion  afforded  by  the  dis 
cussions  of  this  committee  is  appropriate  to  a  survey  of  this 
field  of  experience ;  and  I  propose,  sir,  chiefly  to  direct  my 
remarks  to  that  end. 

No  one  can  forget  how  peculiarly  felicitous  to  his  own 
fame,  and  how  eminently  favorable  to  the  hopes  of  the  country, 
were  the  circumstances  under  which  General  Jackson  was  first 
presented  to  this  nation  as  a  candidate  for  the  Presidency. 
The  men  of  the  Revolution  were  gone  ;  the  field  was  crowded 
with  aspirants,  and  the  capital  had  become  the  seat  of  num 
berless  intrigues,  or — what  was  practically  the  same  thing — 
was  suspected  to  be  so.  In  the  perplexity  of  the  public  mind, 
and  its  misgivings  lest  the  popular  will  should  have  less  to  do 
with  the  adjustment  of  this  question  than  the  secret  manage 
ment  of  leaders,  there  was  a  sudden  uprising  of  the  great  mass 
of  the  nation  to  take  the  selection  of  the  Chief  Magistrate  out 
of  the  hands  of  the  politicians,  and  preserve  it  in  their  own. 
They  chose  their  candidate  in  the  great  military  favorite  of 
the  day,  even  while  he  himself  (it  was  at  that  time  believed) 
was  innocent  of  all  thought  of  such  an  honor.  General  Jack 
son's  imputed  moderation  of  political  sentiment ;  his  freedom 
from  party  trammels,  so  signally  proclaimed  in  that  famous 
correspondence  with  Mr.  Monroe ;  his  extreme  lenity  and  kind 
ness  towards  the  old  Federal  party ;  his  unbounded  personal 
popularity,  founded  on  meritorious  military  service ;  his  al 
leged  honesty  and  directness  of  character,  and  his  boasted 
knowledge  of  men,  all  contributed  to  give  him  a  position  of 
irresistible  command,  and  to  more  than  compensate  for  that 
want  of  statesmanship  and  political  science  which  even  his 
nearest  friends  admitted.  With  these  ascribed  qualities  of 
character,  he  rallied  around  him  not  only  the  largest  support 
of  the  people,  but  the  aid  of  the  most  powerful  talents  in  the 
nation.  It  was  said — and  no  doubt  it  was  true — that,  in  the 


234:  POLITICAL    TAPERS. 

event  of  his  election,  he  might  have  called  to  the  public  ser 
vice  a  combination  of  the  greatest  ability  and  influence  which 
the  country  afforded. 

At  that  time  (I  speak  of  the  canvass  of  1828-4)  we  heard 
nothing  of  REFORM.  The  country  asked  no  reform  ;  it  needed 
none.  The  administration  of  Mr.  Monroe  had  given  universal 
satisfaction,  and  the  people  did 'not  doubt  the  integrity  of  their 
public  functionaries. 

At  the  first  moment  of  the  defeat  of  General  Jackson's 
election  in  the  House  of  Representatives,  opposition  was  de 
clared  against  the  administration  that  was  to  succeed — fierce, 
unsparing,  relentless  opposition.  It  was  not  directed  against 
measures,  nor  even  against  men ;  but  it  was  a  premeditated, 
foreavowed  hostility  to  each  and  every  adherent  of  that  ad 
ministration,  and  to  each  and  every  measure  it  should  propose. 
Its  basis  was  the  vindication  of  the  alleged  violation  of  the 
popular  will  in  the  choice  that  had  been  made ;  and  the  new 
incumbent,  it  was  profanely  declared  in  this  Capitol,  should 
be  assailed  in  his  administration,  even  though  that  adminis 
tration  should  "  be  pure  as  the  angels  at  the  right  hand  of 
God."  The  opposition,  therefore,  to  Mr.  Adams,  looked  to 
no  reform.  Indeed,  sir,  in  point  of  principle  and  of  policy,  the 
administration  of  the  venerable  gentleman  who  now  sits  before 
me,  was  identical  with  that  of  his  predecessor.  It  adopted 
the  same  measures ;  rested  on  the  same  general  doctrines  ; 
was,  like  it,  economical,  cautious,  and  conciliatory  ;  and  was 
sustained,  and  even  administered,  by  almost  the  same  men. 
What  was  there  in  it  to  provoke  a  zeal  for  reform  ? 

Sir,  if  the  nation  had  desired  a  reform,  it  would  not  have 
selected  General  Jackson.  Whatever  great  qualities  it  was 
usual  to  ascribe  to  him,  all  would  have  conceded  that  he  had 
neither  the  coolness  of  temper,  the  knowledge,  nor  the  expe 
rience  essential  to  the  composition  of  that  character.  Still, 
however,  as  the  second  canvass  approached,  it  fell  in  with  the 
views  of  the  party  leaders,  that  an  impression  should  be  made 
of  something  rotten  in  the  state,  and  through  this  opinion  to 


DIPLOMATIC    APPROPRIATIONS.  235 

enlist  an  opposition  on  the  basis  of  reform.  With  this  design, 
committees  were  raised  in  both  Houses  of  Congress  to  inquire 
into  abuses.  They  made  their  reports  with  ominous  denun 
ciations,  and  —  I  think,  sir,  in  view  of  what  has  transpired 
since,  we  may  now  say  —  with  a  ludicrous  exaggeration  of 
sundry  very  pitiful  complaints.  The  search  after  abuse,  not 
withstanding  all  that  was  made  of  it  at  the  time,  we  may  fairly 
admit,  was  a  distinguished  failure.  The  scheme,  however, 
served  its  turn,  and  General  Jackson  was  all  at  once  meta 
morphosed,  or  rather  magnified,  into  the  Great  Reformer. 

This  movement  accomplished  a  double  purpose.  It  spread 
abroad  a  false  opinion  of  great  corruption  in  the  existing  Gov 
ernment,  and  offered  an  acceptable  flattery  to  the  chief.  It 
gave  him  a  position  of  peculiar  veneration  with  the  people. 
His  election  was  heralded  as  a  coming  glory — a  mission  of 
political  regeneration — and  he  was  looked  upon,  in  some  sort, 
as  a  predestined  instrument  of  national  blessing.  He  was 
proclaimed  "the  Reformer," /0r  excellence;  and — in  the  very 
novel  and  classical  phrase  of  the  stump-orators  from  Maine 
to  Missouri — came,  as  a  second  Hercules,  to  sweep  out  the 
great  Augean  stable  of  the  Government.  It  was  then,  sir,  a 
favorite  theme  to  declaim  against  the  abuse  of  patronage  and 
the  servility  of  the  press :  we  often  heard  of  the  extravagance 
of  the  administration,  and  of  the  loose  supervision  of  the 
Treasury.  The  party  evolutions  of  that  date,  the  Congres 
sional  reports  and  speeches,  the  newspaper  dissertations,  all 
bear  evidence  to  the  flood  of  patriotic  and  virtuous  horror 
which  burst  forth  from  the  bosoms  of  the  reformers  at  the  prof 
ligacy  of  the  Government,  in  adding  sixty  or  eighty  thousand 
dollars  to  the  national  expenditure,  and  allowing  nineteen 
hundred  to  Mr.  Pleasants  for  his  expenses  as  bearer  of  des 
patches  to  Rio  ! 

In  the  same  tone  of  feeling,  and  in  accordance  with  the  de 
sign  of  the  authors  of  the  movement,  General  Jackson  lost  no 
time,  after  his  election,  to  communicate  the  great  purport  of 
his  newly-conceived  mission  with  every  solemnity  which  official 


236  POLITICAL    PAPERS. 

authority  could  throw  around  it.      The  portentous  words  were 
spoken  in  the  inaugural,  from  the  portico  of  this  Capitol — 

"  The  recent  demonstration  of  public  sentiment  inscribes 
on  the  list  of  Executive  duties,  in  characters  too  legible-  to  be 
overlooked,  THE  TASK  OF  REFORM  ;  which  will  require  particu 
larly  the  correction  of  those  abuses  which  have  brought  the 
patronage  of  the  General  Government  in  conflict  with  the 
freedom  of  elections,  and  the  counteraction  of  those  causes 
which  have  disturbed  the  rightful  course  of  appointment,  and 
have  placed  or  continued  power  in  unfaithful  or  incompetent 
hands." 

Soon  after  this  oracular,  and,  to  the  great  body  of  the 
country,  startling  announcement,  we  were  made  acquainted 
with  the  specific  abuses  to  which  this  pruning-knife  of  reform 
was  to  be  chiefly  and  most  industriously  applied.  The  regular 
annual  message,  at  the  opening  of  the  first  Congress  under 
the  new  administration,  is  full  of  the  grand  design.  This 
paper  was  matured  in  an  interval  of  leisure  ;  it  was  skilfully 
and  carefully  composed,  and  may  be  deemed  the  authoritative 
rescript  of  reform.  It  professes  to  emit  the  light  wherein  the 
administration  was  to  walk,  and  to  lay  down  the  map  of  its 
great  working  plan.  In  that  document  you  shall  find  the 
President's  mind  occupied  with  four  prominent  reforms,  which 
are  treated  as  cardinal  in  the  creed  of  freedom — indispensa 
ble  to  the  existence  of  pure  government,  not  less  than  vital 
to  the  cause  of  republicanism.  I  will  not  stop,  sir,  to  read 
more  than  a  few  passages  from  this  message  ;  but  I  invite 
members,  at  their  leisure,  to  give  the  whole  of  it  a  careful 
perusal.  Its  meditated  reforms  are — 

ist.  In  the  mode  of  electing  the  President  and  his  re-eligi 
bility  to  office — the  plan  recommended  being  to  "  remove  all 
intermediate  agency  (of  the  Electoral  College  and  House  of 
Representatives)  in  the  election  of  the  President  and  Vice- 
President,"  and,  "  in  connection  with  such  an  amendment,  to 
limit  the  service  of  the  Chief  Magistrate  to  a  single  term  of 
either  four  or  six  years. 

2cl.  In  the  disqualification  of  members  of  Congress  for  office, 


DIPLOMATIC    APPKOI'RIATIONS.  20  » 

at  the  appointment  of  the  President  in  whose  election  they 
may  have  been  officially  concerned. 

3d.  In  the  principle  of  appointing  to  office,  in  the  language 
of  the  message,  "  solely  for  the  benefit  of  the  people,"  and,  "by 
a  general  extension  of  the  law  which  limits  appointments  to 
four  years,"  to  lessen  the  liability  of  encumbering  the  Govern 
ment  with  men  who  cannot,  "for  any  length  of  time,  enjoy 
office  and  power  without  being  more  or  less  under  the  influ 
ence  of  feelings  unfavorable  to  the  faithful  discharge  of  their 
public  duties  ;" — and 

4th.  To  establish  a  strict  accountability  in  the  public  ser 
vants,  and  a  rigid  supervision  of  the  Treasury ;  in  reference 
to  which,  the  attention  of  Congress  was  invited  to  the  in 
quiry  as  to  "  what  offices  might  be  dispensed  with,  what  ex 
penses  retrenched,  and  what  improvements  might  be  made 'in 
the  organization  of  its  various  parts,  to  secure  the  proper  re 
sponsibility  of  public  agents,  and  promote  efficiency  and  jus 
tice  in  all  its  operations." 

Now,  sir,  there  is  the  Chart  of  Reform.  Good  and  whole 
some  reforms,  Mr.  Chairman,  each  and  all  of  them  !  I  sup 
ported  them  then  :  I  would  support  them  now.  The  whole 
nation — I  mean  the  whole  body  of  the  governed,  as  distin 
guished  from  those  who  govern — would  have  sustained  these 
improvements  or  changes  at  that  day,  as  I  have  no  doubt  they 
would  at  this,  if  the  proposition  were  submitted  to  them. 

Well,  sir,  what  became  of  all  these  amendments  in  our 
domestic  polity  ?  Ten  years  have  passed  over,  and  during  all 
that  time  the  reformers  have  had  unlimited  control  of  the  Gov 
ernment.  Is  there  a  man  on  this  floor  will  say  that  General 
Jackson  could  not  have  carried  any  measure  that  he  deemed 
essential  to  the  honor  and  glory  of  his  administration,  or  to 
the  welfare  of  the  nation?  Did  he  want  power  to  achieve  his 
plans  of  administration  ?  Was  he  not  backed  by  his  friends — 
ay,  and  by  the  large  majorities  of  the  country — in  whatever 
scheme  he  indulged  for  the  public  good  ?  Was  not  his  honor, 
his  faith,  his  reputation,  pledged  to  these  reforms  ?  Was  he 


23S  POLITICAL  PAPEKS. 

not  glorified  by  all  his  banded  presses  when  he  proposed  them? 
Turn  to  the  newspapers  of  December,  1829.  and  read  how, 
from  city  to  city,  village  to  village,  to  every  hamlet  and  cabin, 
the  tide  of  gratulation  and  panegyric  rolled  forward,  to  the 
magnifying  of  the  Great  Reformer.  Now,  sir,  of  these  four 
conspicuous,  cardinal  reformations,  which  was  achieved  ?  Not 
one — not  one  ! 

Achieved  !  not  only  were  they  not  achieved,  but  the  whole 
current  of  the  President's  power,  all  his  practice,  his  precept, 
his  policy,  from  alpha  to  omega,  set  directly,  and  of  delibera 
tion  aforethought,  against  this  whole  scheme  of  reform.  He 
was  not  merely  indifferent  to  it,  careless  in  enforcing  it,  slug- 
glish  or  pre-occupied  with  other  matter  ;  but  he  grew  to  be,  in 
a  very  brief  space  of  time,  distinctly  and  actively  hostile  to 
it.  He  wrought  no  change  in  the  mode  of  electing  the  Presi 
dent;  and  so  far  from  limiting  his  service  to  a  single  term 
(which  he  might  have  done  as  efficiently  by  example  as  by 
law),  he  actually  electioneered  through  the  country  for  a  sec 
ond  choice ;  and  if  report  be  true,  as  I  believe  it  is,  franked 
with  his  own  hand  the  letter  of  his  own  secretary  soliciting  his 
renomination  to  the  Presidency  from  the  Legislature  of  Penn 
sylvania. 

Holding  executive  favor,  as  he  did,  to  be  so  unfriendly  to 
the  free  and  faithful  discharge  of  the  duty  of  the  representative, 
he  might,  at  least,  have  been  sparing  in  the  selection  of  mem 
bers  of  Congress  for  office.  And  yet,  sir,  upon  an  enumeration 
of  his  appointments,  it  will  be  found  that  no  President  had 
ever  dealt  so  largely  in  this  stock  of  corruption.  Nay,  sir,  I 
think  I  am  warranted  in  saying  (I  have  not  cast  it  up  arith 
metically),  that  General  Jackson  raised  more  members  of  Con 
gress  to  office  than  all  the  Presidents  before  him  together  had 
done  since  the  adoption  of  the  Constitution. 

Then,  as  to  his  pretended  reform  of  the  principle  of  ap 
pointment,  and  his  doctrine  that  office  was  to  be  filled  solely 
for  the  common  good :  public  employment  became,  under  his 
auspices,  notoriously  the  mere  prize  of  party  service.  Never, 


DIPLOMATIC    APPROPRIATIONS.  231) 

until  General  Jackson's  day,  did  partisan  effrontery  rise  into 
such  matchless  contempt  of  the  decencies  of  public  observance 
as  to  make  open  proclamation  that  office  was  the  spoil  of  vic 
tory,  and  belonged  of  right  to  the  conquerors.  Never,  until 
his  day,  was  the  Post  Office,  with  its  countless  servitors,  seized 
upon  as  the  instrument  of  political  success.  Yet  he  did  it  with 
out  a  blush,  and  has  turned  its  whole  artillery  back  upon  the 
people,  to  batter  down  their  independence.  He  would  have 
done  the  same  with  the  Bank,  but  that  he  found  that  citadel 
too  strong  to  be  assailed,  and  too  firm  to  be  seduced  :  to  which 
fact  may  be  traced  thai  malignant  and  absurd  war  which 
constitutes  both  the  chief  exploit  and  deepest  disgrace  of  his 
administration. 

His  greater  accountability  of  the  public  servants,  his  guard 
ianship  of  the  public  treasure — what  are  they  ?  A  jest.  The 
Treasury  has  been  almost  emptied  by  the  larcenies  of  the  chief 
ministers  of  the  law  :  and  at  this  day  the  friends  of  the  men  in 
power  are  heaping  upon  our  tables  piles  of  bills  to  guard  them 
against  the  felonies  of  their  political  brethren,  vainly  attempt 
ing  to  cast  upon  the  law  the  irregularities  that  have  grown  out 
of  their  neglect  or  their  incapacity  to  administer  it. 

Thus  ends  this  farce  of  Reform  !  It  lias  sunk  into  insignif 
icance  ;  it  has  left  no  memory  behind  it  but  that  of  a  hypo 
critical  and  wicked  fraud — a  trick  of  imposture — a  thing  to 
juggle  with.  As  a  scheme  of  amendment,  it  was  a  ridiculous 
abortion  ;  as  a  device  of  party  tactics,  it  was  below  contempt. 
The  august  patron  of  pure  government,  the  conservator  of  the 
public  morals,  the  predestined  and  foreannounced  Reformer 
of  a  backsliding  generation,  has  been  overmatched  by  the  se 
ductions  of  Satan,  and  has  fallen  into  communion  with  the  un 
clean  thing.  He  has  even  trafficked  in  the  great  and  the  small 
iniquities  which  he  came  to  denounce. 

Mr.  Chairman,  while  from  this  view  of  the  movement  to 
which  I  have  referred,  it  is  evident  that  General  Jackson  has 
been  singularly  unlucky  as  a  Reformer,  I  will  not  deny  to  him 
a  reputation  quite  as  prominent,  and  infinitely  more  mischiev- 


240  POLITICAL    PAPERS. 

ous — that  of  an  INNOVATOR  ;  for  innovator  he  was  in  the  broad 
est  and  worst  sense. 

His  administration  was  one  of  ceaseless  change  :  change, 
sometimes  stealing  along  in  noiseless  advance,  sometimes 
bursting  forth,  in  bold,  open-day  achievement ;  one  while 
sweeping  with  the  breath  of  spring,  at  another  with  the  rage 
and  havoc  of  the  tornado.  We  had  ever  change  of  men, 
change  of  measures,  change  of  principles.  The  pervading 
characteristic  of  that  most  anomalous  and  extraordinary  admin 
istration  was  mutation — uncertainty — experiment.  It  lived  in 
perpetual  motion,  defying  all  hope  of  repose  ;  it  rejoiced  in  tur 
moil,  and  revelled  in  paradox.  Those  who  followed  it  were 
forever  ignorant  of  their  whereabout  :  they  knew  no  rest  for 
the  soles  of  their  feet — they  travelled  over  quicksands.  The 
idea  of  political  consistency  never  entered  into  the  President's 
head — he  had  no  perception  of  the  meaning  of  the  term.  His 
idol  was  his  popularity,  and  whatever  sustained  that,  consti 
tuted  the  theory  of  his  conduct.  It  was  his  boast,  his  glory, 
his  perpetual  aim.  His  dream  was  popularity,  his  motive  was 
popularity,  his  defence  was  popularity.  Not  that  popularity 
which  submissively  trails  after  the  public  will,  and  humbly  es 
says  to  do  the  public  bidding  ;  nor  that  nobler  motive  which 
studies  the  country's  good,  and,  by  an  assiduous  devotion  to 
the  duties  of  station,  seeks  the  applause  of  its  own  conscience 
and  the  approbation  of  virtuous  men  ;  but  a  domineering,  way 
ward,  arrogant  popularity — an  impatient,  hectoring  assumption 
of  the  right  to  lead,  which  repudiates  all  law,  despises  all  ob 
servance,  and  maintains  its  supremacy  by  personal  and  party 
force. 

In  General  Jackson,  his  popularity  was  the  means  by  which 
he  increased  his  power  ;  and  his  power  was  used,  in  turn,  to 
enlarge  his  popularity.  With  consummate  skill  (for  I  do  not 
deny  to  him  great  foresight  and  management)  he  turned  all 
the  resources  of  his  position  to  the  strengthening  of  this  his 
most  cherished  attribute.  The  very  boldness  of  his  designs 
seemed  to  fascinate  the  public  admiration  :  he  dazzled  the  pep- 


DIPLOMATIC    APPROPRIATIONS.  1 

ular  mind  by  that  fearlessness  which  we  were,  for  a  time,  accus 
tomed  to  interpret  as  a  proof  of  his  honesty  and  uprightness 
of  purpose.  Least  of  all  men  was  he  suspected  of  dissimula 
tion  :  and  yet  I  am  persuaded  a  more  skilful  dissembler  never 
occupied  high  station  in  our  country.  He  flattered  the  people 
with  the  address  of  a  practised  courtier,  startled  and  amused 
them  by  the  thunder-claps  of  his  policy,  identified  his  success 
with  the  gratification  of  their  favorite  passions,  grappled  him 
self  with  wonderful  adroitness  to  the  predominant  sentiments, 
wishes,  and  prejudices  of  the  great  and  massive  majority — and 
became  a  monarch,  an  autocrat,  by  the  sheer  concentration  of 
republican  suffrage. 

This  power  he  wielded  with  a  stern  and  inexorable  temper 
of  proscription  against  all  who  did  not  bow  down  to  his  au 
thority,  and  worship  him  as  the  embodiment,  the  incarnation 
of  the  Popular  Sovereignty.  He  was  the  fountain  of  honor, 
the  arbiter  of  disgrace,  holding  the  political  fortunes  and  hopes 
of  his  followers  at  his  own  capricious  disposal.  The  most  in 
dulgent  of  friends,  the  most  ruthless  of  enemies,  there  was  no 
delinquency  of  the  one  that  he  could  not  overlook  ;  there  was 
no  offence  in  the  other  so  trivial,  that,  when  occasion  offered, 
he  would  not  visit  it  with  vindictive  punishment.  He  who 
could  not  only  tolerate,  but  sustain,  protect,  and  reward  the 
troops  of  greedy  parasites,  the  defaulters,  the  public  plunder 
ers,  that  thronged  his  hall  in  the  guise  of  friends — men,  some 
of  whom  were  notorious  for  the  derangement  of  their  official 
accounts — could,  nevertheless,  pursue,  with  unprecedented  ani 
mosity,  an  unwary  trespasser  upon  the  Government  treasure — 
a  small  defaulter  of  some  three  thousand  dollars — and,  for 
years,  delight  himself  with  the  sufferings  of  his  victim.  He 
could  continue  to  heap  upon  this  man  fresh  indignity,  disgrace 
and  pain,  even  beyond  a  rigorous  judicial  sentence,  until  the 
humanity  of  the  nation  at  last  revolted,  and  cried  out  "  For 
shame  !"  This  could  he  do,  because,  the  unfortunate  subject 
of  his  wrath  had,  in  an  evil  hour,  ventured  to  exercise  the  priv 
ilege  of  a  free  citizen,  and  express,  in  a  public  journal,  his  dis- 
ii 


242  POLITICAL    PAPERS. 

approbation  of  the  measures,  and  his  doubts  of  the  political  in 
tegrity  of  the  Imperial  Republican  Chief. 

With  such  a  temper,  and  such  power  in  the  Executive,  what 
considerate  citizen  of  this  land  had  not  motive  to  pause,  and 
look  with  distrust  and  fear  to  the  future  ?  Sir,  the  events  that 
have  taken  place  under  that  rule  have  fully  justified  the  worst 
forebodings  of  those  who  watched  its  progress.  A  great  and 
vicious  revolution  was  accomplished  in  the  character  of  this 
Government — one  which  shall  render  the  name  of  its  author 
forever  famous  in  our  annals. 

General  Jackson's  first  term  was  occupied  in  the  practice 
of  those  arts  by  which  his  popularity  was  extended  and  con 
firmed.  It  was  a  period  of  preparation  and  marshalling  of 
forces.  No  one  who  reads  the  history  of  that  period,  in  the  Ex 
ecutive  communications  and  in  the  official  press  commentaries 
of  the  day,  will  fail  to  be  struck  with  the  extreme  profession  of 
reverence  for  the  popular  will  which  everywhere  speaks  in  the 
language,  or  breathes  in  the  spirit  of  these  emanations  from 
the  Chief  Magistrate.  Some  such  declarations  as  the  follow 
ing  ever  meet  the  eye  in  the  perusal  of  these  papers  : 

"  I  regard  an  appeal  to  the  source  of  power,  in  all  cases 
of  real  doubt,  and  when  its  exercise  is  deemed  indispensable 
to  the  general  welfare,  as  among  the  most  sacred  of  all  obliga 
tions." — Message  0/1829 

"  I  know  no  tribunal  to  which  a  public  man  in  this  country, 
in  a  case  of  doubt  and  difficulty,  can  appeal  with  greater  ad 
vantage  or  more  propriety,  than  the  judgment  of  the people"- 
Message  #/"  1830. 

The  frequent  reiteration  of  such  sentiments  could  not  but 
inspire  confidence  and  trust  in  the  Executive — among  all 
those,  especially,  whose  preconceived  opinion  of  the  Presi 
dent's  uprightness  prepared  them  to  indulge  the  kindest  feel 
ings  towards  his  success.  This  constant  recurrence  to  the 
source  of  power  was  a  gentle  flattery,  well  contrived  to  put  the 
people  off  their  guard.  It  has  ever  been  the  trick  of  ambition, 
from  the  days  of  Caesar  to  our  own.  With  all  this  display  of 
respect  for  the  popular  will,  no  man  ever  held  that  will  in 


DIPLOMATIC    APPROPRIATIONS.  243 

greater  contempt,  when  it  came  in  conflict  with  his  own,  than 
the  late  President.  Sir,  if  you  desire  the  proof  of  it,  you  shall 
find  it  not  only  in  the  heady  current  of  his  life,  but  in  the 
whole  course  of  that  battle  with  the  Legislative  power  which 
marked  his  career ;  his  perpetual  veto  of  the  representative 
action  in  the  internal  improvement  bills,  the  bank  bills,  the 
land  bill — all  forbidden  in  the  face  of  large  majorities  of  the 
direct  representatives  of  the  people — notoriously  in  the  face  of 
the  popular  judgment  and  wish  of  the  day.  You  shall  see  it  in 
the  famous  removal  of  the  deposits ;  in  the  refusal  to  restore 
them  ;  in  that  high-handed  measure  of  holding  back  the  land 
bill  when  it  was  known  that  two-thirds  of  both  Houses  would 
have  passed  it  in  spite  of  the  veto  ;  and,  above  all  other  acts 
of  contumacy  to  public  opinion  and  popular  will — the  cap-sheaf 
of  his  waywardness — his  pocketing  (as  it  has  been  signifi 
cantly  termed)  of  the  bill  for  the  repeal  of  the  Treasury  cir 
cular. 

Sir,  it  was  this  hostility  to  popular  control  that  led  Gener 
al  Jackson  to  that  systematic  assault  upon  the  structure  of  this 
Government,  which  I  have  termed  a  revolution,  and  which  end 
ed  only  in  the  subversion  of  some  of  the  most  important  prin 
ciples  of  the  Constitution.  His  scheme  was  to  enlarge  the  Ex 
ecutive  power  and  to  depress  the  Legislative.  In  the  Execu 
tive  power  he  saw  and  felt  the  source  of  unlimited  popularity  ; 
in  the  Legislative  he  was  aware  of  a  constant,  jealous  guard 
ianship  against  encroachment,  that  restricted  his  footsteps  to 
a  path  in  which  he  had  no  patience  to  walk.  The  one  was  the 
parent  of  patronage,  reward,  and  partisan  alliance  ;  the  other 
a  surly  warder  of  popular  rights,  whose  appropriate  duty  lay 
in  curbing  the  excursive  spirit  of  an  ambitious  chief. 

I  have  said,  sir,  that  General  Jackson's  first  term  was  em 
ployed  in  marshalling  his  forces.  His  second  is  distinguished 
by  the  developments  of  his  skill  in  using  them.  Immediate 
ly  after  his  re-election,  a  principle  of  vast  import  and  signifi 
cance  was  announced  to  the  country,  with  all  the  authority 
which  an  Executive  communication  could  confer  upon  it.  The 


POLITICAL    PAPERS. 

scope  of  this  principle  was  to  set  Congress  at  defiance  by  assum 
ing  for  the  Executive,  not  only  an  independence  of  the  Legisla 
ture,  but  even  a  superiority  over  it.  It  was  declared  that — 

The  President  was  the  representative  of  the  American  peo 
ple — co-equal  with  the  Legislative  power,  accountable  to  the 
people  and  not  to  Congress  for  its  acts : 

And  a  corollary  was  deduced  from  this — 

That  the  elections,  being  appeals  to  the  people,  were  to  be 
interpreted  as  expositions  of  the  public  judgment  in  favor  of 
the  great  Representative  Chief,  and  were  to  be  taken  as  con 
firmations  of  all  his  acts,  principles,  and  opinions. 

"  It  will  be  for  those  in  whose  behalf  we  all  act,''  says  the 
President,  in  his  nrst  message  after  his  re-election,  when  giv 
ing  his  reasons  for  setting  aside  the  decision  of  the  House  of 
Representatives  in  favor  of  retaining  the  deposits  in  the  bank, 
"  to  decide  whether  the  Executive  department  of  the  Govern 
ment,  in  the  steps  which  it  has  taken  on  this  subject,  has  been 
found  in  the  line  of  its  duty." 

In  that  appeal  to  the  people  against  Congress  is  the  first 
dawn  of  this  new  theory  of  Executive  power.  It  was  more 
fully  announced  afterwards  in  the  famous  "  Protest"  of  April 
following. 

"  The  President,"  it  is  there  declared,  "  is  the  direct  rep 
resentative  of  the  American  people." 

And  again  : 

"  The  Legislative  power,  subject  to  the  qualified  negative 
of  the  President,  is  vested  in  the  Congress  of  the  United  States, 
composed  of  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives.  The 
Executive  power  is  vested  exclusively  in  the  President,  except 
that,  in  the  conclusion  of  treaties  and  in  certain  appointments 
to  office,  he  is  to  act  with  the  advice  and  consent  of  the  Senate. 
The  Judicial  power  is  vested  exclusively  in  the  Supreme  and 
other  courts  of  the  United  States,  except  in  cases  of  impeach 
ment,  for  which  purpose  the  accusatory  power  is  vested  in  the 
House  of  Representatives,  and  that  of  hearing  and  determin 
ing  in  the  Senate.  But,  although  for  the  special  purposes 
which  have  been  mentioned,  there  is  an  occasional  intermixture 
of  the  powers  of  the  different  departments,  yet  with  these  excep 
tions  each  of  the  three  great  departments  is  independent  of  the 


DIPLOMATIC    APPROPRIATIONS.  245 

others  in  its  sphere  of  action  :  and  when,  it  deviates  from  that 
sphere  is  not  responsible  to  the  others  further  than  it  is  expressly 
made  so  by  the  Constitution.  In  every  other  respect  each  of 
them  as  the  co-equal  of  the  other  two,  and  are  all  servants  of  the 
American  people,  without  power  or  right  to  control  or  censure 
each  other  in  the  service  of  their  common  superior,  save  only  in 
the  manner  and  to  the  degree  which  that  superior  has  prescri 
bed."— />•<?/«/,  April  1834. 

The  President  having  thus  assumed  a  position  which  ena 
bled  him  to  defy  the  inspection  or  control  of  the  Legislature  ; 
having  thus  exempted  himself  from  all  accountability — except 
in  the  impracticable  form  of  impeachment — to  the  representa 
tives  of  the  nation,  and  invested  himself  with  an  undefined  and 
hitherto  unheard-of  pretention  to  the  character  of  a  direct  Su 
preme  National  Representative,  his  next  step  was  to  strength 
en  his  vantage-ground  by  defences  that  should  with  no  less  ef 
ficacy,  exempt  the  subordinate  functionaries,  through  whom  his 
measures  were  carried  into  effect,  from  their  supposed  account 
ability  to  the  Legislative  power.  It  was  very  evident  that  the 
Executive  had  gained  but  half  a  conquest  while  its  agents 
were  exposed  to  that  supervision  of  the  Legislature  which 
might  frighten  them  from  their  party  allegiance  to  their  chief. 
To  protect  them  against  this  supervision  required  a  still  broad 
er  pretension  than  the  last,  and  thence  arose  that  famous  doc 
trine  of  Executive  Unity  and  Responsibility,  which  figures  so  con 
spicuously  in  the  promulgation  of  the  new  creed  of  the  second 
term.  In  this  creed  the  Executive  is  a  unit,  and  in  the  Presi 
dent  alone  rests  all  the  responsibility :  the  officers  of  Govern 
ment  are  but  the  creations  of  his  will  ;  the  agents  for  the 
performance  of  his  duty  ;  accountable  to  him,  and  to  no 
one  else. 

"  By  the  Constitution," — I  read,  sir,  again  from  the  Protest 
— "  the  Executive  power  is  vested  in  the  President  of  the 
United  States.  Among  the  duties  imposed  upon  him,  and 
which  he  is  sworn  to  perform,  is  that  of  taking  care  that  the 
laws  be  faithfully  executed.  Being  thus  made  responsible  for 
the  etitire  action  of  the  Executive  department,  it  was  but  rea 
sonable  that  the  power  of  appointing,  overseeing  and  controlling 


216  POLITICAL    PAPERS. 

those  who  execute  the  laws — a  power  in  its  nature  executive — 
should  remain  in  his  hands." 

And  once  more,  in  the  same  paper  : 

"  The  whole  Executive  power  being  vested  in  the  President, 
who  is  responsible  for  its  exercise,  it  is  a  necessary  consequence 
that  he  should  have  a  right  to  employ  agents  of  his  own  choice  to 
aid  him  in  the  performance  of  his  duties,  and  to  discharge  them 
when  he  is  no  longer  willing  to  be  responsible  for  their  acts" 

True  to  this  theory  of  Executive  duty  and  power,  and  very 
distinctly,  sir,  to  my  mind,  denoting  its  parentage,  we  have 
seen,  on  a  late  occasion,  the  Postmaster-General  favoring  the 
country  with  a  practical  commentary  upon  its  meaning.  I 
will  beg  to  read  a  passage  from  his  answer  to  the  application 
for  a  mandamus  in  the  case  of  Stockton  and  Stokes. 

"  The  Executive,"  says  Mr.  Kendall,  u  is  a  unity.  The 
framers  of  the  Constitution  had  studied  history  too  well  to  im 
pose  on  the  country  a  divided  Executive.  The  executive  power 
was  vested  in  a  President.  The  executive  officers  are  his  agents, 
for  whom  he  is  held  responsible  by  the  people,  whose  agent  he  is. 
The  acts  of  the  executive  officers  are  the  acts  of  the  President.  Con 
stitutionally  he  is  as  responsible  for  them  as  if  they  were  done 
by  himself,  though  not  morally." 

Now,  sir,  it  is  evident  that  this  accountability  of  the  subor 
dinate  officers  of  this  Government  to  the  President  is  alto 
gether  incompatible  with  their  responsibility  to  the  National 
Legislature,  or  even  with  their  liability  to  be  inspected  or  exam 
ined  by  that  Legislature.  All  responsibility  is  converged  upon 
the  President,  and  he  being,  according  to  the  theory,  the  rep 
resentative  of  the  people,  is  accountable  only  to  them,  and  not 
to  his  mere  co-equal — or,  more  properly  speaking,  in  the  spirit 
of  these  assumptions,  his  inferior — the  Legislative  body,  com 
posed  as  it  is,  of  but  fragment  representations  of  that  same 
people. 

When  we  add,  Mr.  Chairman,  to  all  these  pretensions  that 
kindred  claim  with  which  this  nation  was  so  familiar  in  the 
palmy  days  of  Jacksonism — the  claim  to  interpret  the  laws  as 
the  President  understood  them,  without  respect  to  judicial  author- 


DIPLOMATIC    APPROPRIATIONS.  247 

ity,  legislative  exposition,  or  prescriptive  usage,  but  solely  as 
the  Chief  Magistrate's  green  or  ripe  judgment,  his  passion  or 
his  intellect  might  suggest — when  we  add  this  pretension  to 
the  rest,  we  have  a  scheme  of  power  so  comprehensive  for 
every  purpose  of  misrule  and  corruption  as  to  leave  the  most 
absolute  cravings  of  despot  ambition  nothing  to  desire  in  the 
construction  of  the  frame-work  of  a  Government  that  might 
crush  every  principle  of  freedom  in  our  Constitution  worth  con 
tending  for.  The  wit  of  man  could  not  devise  a  plan  of  en 
croachment  upon  regulated  liberty  more  insidious,  progressive, 
and,  finally,  more  sure  to  end  in  absolutism  than  this  I  have 
so  cursorily  brought  into  review.  Based  upon  an  imperious 
popularity  (for  no  President  but  one  so  armed  with  the  peo 
ple's  devotion  could  have  advanced  a  step  in  this  perilous 
career),  it  assumes  for  the  Executive,  successively — first,  a 
representative  character,  co-equal  with,  and  independent  of  the 
Legislature  ;  then,  a  right  to  regard  the  result  of  the  elections 
as  a  popular  ratification  of  Executive  conduct ;  then  a  con 
structive  and  exclusive  responsibility  for  all  subordinate  offi 
cers  ;  and  finally  the  independent  interpretation  of  the  laws. 
The  result  of  all  is,  to  give  to  this  republican  nation  a  Chief 
Magistrate  of  more  power  and  less  real  responsibility,  of  broad 
er  range  for  mischievous  ambition,  and  greater  capacity  for 
harm,  than  may  be  found  in  any  constitutional  monarch  of 
modern  times.  Sir,  these  doctrines  have  sprung  out  of  the 
very  insolence  of  power  :  they  are  the  landmarks  which  trace 
the  victory  of  a  proud  chief  over  the  rights  and  laws  of  a  sub 
dued  country. 

Till  conquest  unresisted  cease  to  please 
And  rights  submitted  left  him  none  to  seize. 

These  assumptions,  Mr.  Chairman,  were  not  mere  political 
abstractions.  They  were  active  elements  in  all  the  workings 
of  the  late  administration.  They  constituted  the  machinery 
by  which  the  grossest  abuses  in  this  Government  were  engen 
dered  and  screened  from  the  observation  of  the  public  eye. 


248  POLITICAL    PAPERS. 

To  them  may  be  traced  that  abundant  fruit  of  corruption  which 
is  now  just  beginning  to  show  its  hideous  rottenness.  Let  any 
one  turn  back  to  the  history  of  "  The  Investigation,"  as  it  is 
called — u  The  Concealment"  would  be  its  better  name — of 
1837.  There  let  him  read  the  President's  refusal  to  answer 
interrogatories  as  to  the  condition  of  the  departments,  and 
his  claim  to  be  exempted  from  question  unless  specific  charges 
were  exhibited.  Let  him  reflect  upon  the  President's  arro 
gant  arraignment  of  members  of  this  House  for  their  freedom 
of  speech  in  the  debate  that  preceded  the  appointment  of  the 
committee  ;  the  order  to  the  cabinet  officers  to  disregard  the 
mandate  of  the  committee,  and  their  consequent  refusal  to 
answer ;  the  claim  to  protection  from  this  examination  set  up 
by  the  President  and  his  cabinet,  upon  the  plea  of  privilege 
against  self  -  inculpation ;  the  personal  immunity  asserted  by 
them  against  search  for  papers  ;  and,  finally,  the  impudent 
defiance  of  the  committee  by  the  Postmaster-General.  Let 
any  man  turn  to  these  proceedings,  so  recent,  so  vivid  in  the 
recollection  of  the  nation,  and  he  will  at  once  be  able  to  trace 
out  the  impression  of  this  new  political  philosophy  on  every 
feature  of  that  remarkable  incident. 

It  will  be  remembered,  too,  sir,  that  these  doctrines  are 
altogether  of  recent  date — the  coinage  of  the  last  administra 
tion.  Never  before,  in  the  history  of  this  Govern ment,  have 
they  been  asserted  in  theory  or  developed  in  practice.  They 
are  utterly  without  precedent  or  color  of  former  example.  As 
I  have  said,  sir,  they  owed  their  origin  to  the  necessities  of 
General  Jackson's  scheme  of  administration — a  scheme  whose 
fatal  aim  was  the  prostration  of  every  department  of  this  Gov 
ernment  before  the  Executive.  It  is  curious  to  note,  in  the 
progress  of  this  revolution,  with  what  confidence  its  great 
author  trusted  to  the  force  of  profession  when  it  was  necessary 
to  blind  the  people  against  the  perception  of  his  real  designs, 
and  how  little  trouble  he  gave  himself  to  reconcile  this  profes 
sion  with  his  practice.  There  was  no  sentiment  which  was 
paraded  more  ostentatiously  before  the  public  eye  by  the  Pres- 


DIPLOMATIC    APPROPRIATIONS.  24:9 

ident  than  the  declaration  of  his  extreme  scruple  against  the 
exercise  of  doubtful  powers.  There  is  scarcely  a  State  paper 
of  his  day  that  does  not  repeat  the  admonition  against  this  easy 
sin  of  questionable  power,  as  the  first  and  gravest  to  be  depre 
cated.  As  if  the  President  were  conscious  that  his  temper,  and 
the  habits  of  his  past  life,  might  lay  him  open  to  .the  suspicion 
of  this  sin,  he  is  careful  to  desecrate  it  with  a  peculiar  abhor 
rence.  Now,  sir,  it  will  be  found  that  there  has  been  scarce 
a  power  under  our  Constitution,  which  in  the  course  of  fifty 
years'  administration  has  been  held  doubtful,  that  General 
Jackson  has  not  either  exercised,  or  assumed  the  right  to  ex 
ercise  without  hesitation.  He  expressed  his  willingness  to 
charter  a  National  Bank  ;  and  would  have  done  so,  as  he  de 
clared,  if  the  plan  had  been  conformable  to  certain  views 
which  he  disclosed  :  he  signed  bills  for  internal  improvements  : 
he  constantly  used  the  veto  on  mere  questions  of  expediency, 
where  no  constitutional  objection  was  pretended  :  he  has  held 
back  a  bill  from  Congress  when  two-thirds  of  each  House 
would  have  voted  for  it :  in  the  case  of  the  specie  circular,  he 
refused  to  return  the  bill  altogether :  he  has  appointed  to 
office  after  his  nominee  has  been  rejected  by  the  Senate :  he 
removed  the  deposits  upon  a  plea  of  constitutional  respon 
sibility,  when  the  officer  to  whom  the  law  specially  intrusted 
them  had  refused  :  he  has  denied  to  Congress  the  right  to  in 
spect  the  departments  unless  that  inspection  were  directed  to 
previously  specified  charges  of  abuse.  I  do  not  pretend  to 
say,  Mr.  Chairman,  that  some  of  the  powers  to  which  these 
acts  refer  may  not  be  lawfully  and  beneficially  exercised  by 
the  Executive — I  believe  they  may,  sir — but  every  one  will 
admit  that  they  may  be  all  ranked  among  that  class  of  doubt 
ful  powers  upon  which  great  contrariety  of  opinion  has  ex 
isted  in  this  country  ;  and  I  allude  to  the  action  of  the  late 
President  in  reference  to  them,  only  by  way  of  contrast  be 
tween  his  profession  and  his  practice,  and  to  show  how  little 
scrupulous  he  was  as  to  constitutional  restraints,  when  it  suited 
his  purpose  to  transcend  them, 
n* 


250  POLITICAL    PAPERS. 

The  adoption,  Mr.  Chairman,  of  such  principles  as  I  have 
described,  and  the  administration  of  the  Government  in  accord* 
ance  with  them,  are  altogether  sufficient  to  explain  any  amoun' 
of  official  delinquency  which  has  been,  or  may  hereafter  be,  dis 
closed.  Such  a  system,  by  converting  the  powers  of  the  Gov 
ernment  intqa  party  engine,  could  not  fail  to  breed  up  an  army 
of  partisan-zealots,  such  as  we  have  seen — rude,  rapacious  and 
selfish.  It  could  not  fail  to  lower  the  estimate  of  public  virtue, 
to  debauch  public  morals,  and  to  fill  the  land  with  greedy 
hunters  after  "  the  spoils."  It  could  not  fail  to  engender  hosts 
of  demagogues,  of  every  order  and  degree — from  the  fustian 
ranter  of  a  tippling  shop,  up  to  the  all-sufficient  oracle  of  Jaco 
bin  philosophy  in  the  Senate — or  to  the  more  shrewd  and  cun 
ning  fomenter  of  base  prejudices  and  passions  in  the  cabinet. 
Yes,  sir,  even  higher  still — to  the  popularity-engrossing  chief 
himself.  It  has  already  done  all  this,  and  more.  The  favor  of 
Government  has  become  a  prize  to  be  won  by  adulation  and 
compliance,  and,  as  a  necessary  consequence,  the  meanest  man 
ever  bears  away  the  reward.  Public  office  is  to  be  obtained 
only  by  that  subserviency  which  no  honorable  man  can  con 
descend  to  yield, — it  therefore  inevitably  falls  into  the  hands  of 
the  worst.  Good  men  fly  from  the  association  of  the  Execu 
tive.  Sir,  it  is  remarkable  that  General  Jackson's  adminis 
tration  could  never  retain  about  it  men  of  pre-eminent  ability  : 
it  was  not  their  sphere.  They  fled  from  it  in  squadrons.  Even 
the  ties  of  friendly  association  in  the  cabinet  could  not  be  pre 
served  beyond  a  year  at  a  time.  President  Jackson  made  as 
many  ghosts  as  Richard  : — 

"  Where  is  Clarence  ? 

Where  is  the  gentle  Rivers,  Vaughan,  Grey  ? 
Where  the  kind  Hastings  ?" 

I  may  ask  :  Where  is  Berrien,  Branch,  Ingham  ? — Where 
Duane,  McLane,  and  other  early  friends  of  the  chief?  Gone, 
sir,  immolated  by  that  spirit  which  endured  no  free  opinion. 
Not  only  from  the  presence  of  the  chief  himself  did  they  fly, 


DIPLOMATIC    APPROPRIATIONS.  251 

but  in  every  department  of  the  service  the  talent  of  the  nation 
deserted  him.  From  the  earliest  era  of  that  rule,  down  to  the 
present  day,  every  election  has  successively  lowered  the  scale 
of  ability  by  which  the  reigning  power  is  sustained  ;  until,  at 
last,  it  is  apparent  that  the  party  in  possession  of  the  Govern 
ment  is  soon  likely  to  be  without  that  modicum  of  talent,  which, 
even  at  this  moment,  so  scantily  suffices  for  the  small  vindica 
tion,  on  this  floor,  of  its  own  small  merits. 

Sir,  the  baleful  influence  of  the  last  administration  was  not 
confined  to  the  character  of  the  public  men  with  which  it  was 
surrounded — it  might  be  traced  through  almost  every  depart 
ment  of  society.  We  lived  in  the  midst  of  convulsions.  The 
public  taste  was  vitiated  and  fed  by  the  stimulus  of  constantly 
recurring  political  eruptions  ;  it  delighted  in  strange  conjunc 
tures — the  heavings  and  spasms  of  that  capricious  power  which 
displayed  itself  in  such  fantastic  action  at  the  capital.  A  spirit 
of  insubordination,  of  misrule  and  riot  became  diffused  through 
the  community.  Wild  and  visionary  theories  of  political  duty- 
were  disseminated  abroad  and  showed  themselves  in  the  most 
mischievous  forms,  in  the  proceedings  of  the  State  Legislatures. 
The  most  abstruse  and  difficult  problems  of  political  economy — 
questions  of  currency,  finance,  constitutional  power  —  were 
summarily  but  most  authoritatively  disposed  of  by  the  shal 
lowest  pretenders  to  statesmanship ;  and  the  oldest  and  best 
institutions  of  the  country  attacked  and  beaten  down  by  po 
litical  charlatans.  Knowledge,  deliberation,  experience,  all 
were  obliged  to  give  way  to  this  newly-inspired  intuition  ;  and 
the  greatest  pains  were  taken  by  party  leaders  and  demagogues 
to  deceive  the  people  into  the  belief  that  the  profoundest  ques 
tions  of  Government  might  be  consigned  to  the  decision  of 
men  of  the  lowest  scale  of  qualification  in  political  science. 
A  broad  and  odious  line  of  distinction  was  drawn  between  the 
rich  and  the  poor  ;  and  where  mutual  dependence  and  interest 
should  have  engendered  kind  feelings,  harmony  and  brother 
hood,  the  seeds  of  ill-will  and  hatred  were  deeply  sown. 

In  obedience  to  the  same  influence,  the  Government  press 


IJOZ  POLITICAL    PAPERS. 

became  a  mere  engine  of  slander — the  fabricator  of  palpable 
and  gross  falsehood.  Every  thing  that  transpired  in  the  Gov 
ernment  was  distorted  by  its  light.  What,  in  its  vocabulary, 
\vas  called  public  opinion,  was  but  the  reverberation  of  its 
own  false  clamor.  The  people  were  systematically  abused, 
cheated,  and  betrayed  by  its  monstrous  counterfeits — juggled 
and  duped  by  the  Type  Fiend.  The  coherence  of  "  the  party" 
required  an  organized  plan  of  misrepresentation :  the  existence 
of  the  administration  required  it.  It  had  risen  by  it,  and  was 
maintained  by  it.  It  could  not  have  subsisted  a  month  if  the 
people  could  have  heard  the  truth.  It  would  have  withered 
in  the  light,  and  crumbled  into  dust.  The  whole  atmosphere 
in  which  it  breathed  was  false  :  the  element  upon  which  it 
lived  was  deception  :  its  popularity,  its  power,  its  duration, 
depended  on  the  essential  condition  of  blinding  the  people. 
It  lived,  and  moved,  and  had  its  being  in  the  Universal,  Inex 
tinguishable,  Everlasting  LIE. 

While  this  was  the  action  of  that  administration  upon  the 
morals  of  the  nation,  its  measures  were  no  less  physically 
hurtful  to  the  public  interest.  They  were  hurtful  from  the 
same  causes  that  rendered  its  principles  vicious.  They  were 
ever  dictated  by  selfish  passion,  and  characterized  by  that 
domineering  temper  which  I  hav'e  before  described  as  the  dis 
tinctive  impulse  of  the  administration. 

The  President's  vanity  and  thirst  for  applause  rendered  him 
eagerly  and  rashly  precipitate  to  pay  off  the  public  debt.  All 
other  interests  were  compelled  to  give  place  to  the  achieve 
ment  of  the  glory  of  wiping  away  that  debt  during  the  term 
of  his  political  supremacy  : 

His  hatred,  or  rather  his  defiance  and  impatience  of  the 
fame  of  one  man  (Mr.  Biddle),  caused  him  to  make  war  upo* 
the  Bank  : 

His  personal  animosity  to  another  distinguished  individual 
(Mr.  Clay)  induced  him  to  veto  the  Land  Bill. 

To  these  three  measures,  proceeding  from  the  egotism  and 
vain-gloriousness  of  the  President,  may  be  traced  the  chief 


DIPLOMATIC    APPROPKIATIONS.  253 

maladies  of  the  times.  To  them  may  be  traced,  in  succession, 
the  overthrow  of  internal  improvements, — the  accumulation 
of  the  surplus, — the  distribution, — the  paper  system, — the 
hard-money  experiment, — the  suspension, — the  wide-spread 
bankruptcy, — and,  finally,  the  enormous  and  unexampled  pec 
ulation  upon  the  public  treasure. 

I  do  not  stop,  sir,  to  expatiate  upon  the  sequence  of  these 
events,  nor  to  indicate  more  minutely  their  connection  with 
each  other  and  with  the  leading  measures  to  which  I  have 
referred  them.  I  am  sure,  now  that  we  may  calmly  look  back 
to  the  whole  train  of  our  past  disasters,  the  impartial  judgment 
of  the  country  will  be  at  no  loss  to  assign  them  to  the  causes 
I  have  enumerated.  They  will  be  ever  accounted,  sir,  by  the 
reflecting  portion  of  our  citizens,  the  bitter  fruits  of  Jacksonism. 

When  General  Jackson  came  into  power,  he  found  every 
interest  in  the  country  prosperous  :  when  he  departed,  he  left 
every  interest  at  its  lowest  ebb.  In  the  first  era,  our  systems 
of  policy  had  been  matured,  and  were  in  wholesome  exercise  : 
agriculture,  commerce,  and  manufactures  were  all  thriving ; 
the  currency  was  of  unexampled  soundness  and  value  ;  the 
revenues  were  gradually  increasing ;  the  debt  was  provided 
for  ;  the  improvements  in  the  surface  of  the  country  were  ad 
vancing  at  a  steady  and  wholesome  pace  ;  the  Government 
was  economical,  and  its  foreign  relations  upon  the  most  se 
cure  and  honorable  footing.  I  will  not  attempt  to  contrast 
that  state  of  the  nation  with  the  present — I  will  only  say  that 
General  Jackson,  reversing  the  boast  of  the  Roman  Emperor, 
might  have  exclaimed,  at  his  departure  from  the  capital,  "  I 
found  Rome  marble,  and  I  have  left  it  brick." 

Still,  sir,  I  desire  to  do  the  late  President  justice  in  one 
particular  in  which  I  might  be  misapprehended.  In  the  man 
agement  of  the  foreign  affairs  of  this  Government,  I  am  pre 
pared  to  pay  a  tribute  of  praise  to  his  energy.  In  that  branch 
of  the  public  concerns,  he  is  entitled  to  all  the  applause  he  has 
ever  received.  The  very  qualities  of  character  which  rendered 
him  dangerous  at  home,  furnished  him  the  means  of  success 


254  POLITICAL    PAPERS. 

in  the  disposal  of  our  affairs  abroad.  That  imperious  temper 
which  depsised  the  limits  of  republican  rule,  admirably  fitted 
him  to  CQpe  with  monarchs,  and  transfused  into  his  foreign  ne 
gotiations  the  vigor  that  crowned  them  with  success. 

In  the  hasty  glance,  Mr.  Chairman,  which  I  have  taken  of 
the  principles  and  policy  of  the  last  Presidency,  my  aim  has 
been  to  bring  to  the  contemplation  of  the  committee  the  singu 
larly  unhappy  auspices  under  which  the  existing  Chief  Magis 
trate  came  into  power.  It  was  the  great  misfortune  of  Mr. 
Van  Buren  to  succeed  to  a  dilapidated  inheritance ;  and  that 
misfortune  was  most  fatally  aggravated  by  the  extraordinary 
illusion  of  national  prosperity  which,  at  the  moment  of  the  de 
parture  of  his  predecessor,  and  of  his  own  accession,  haunted 
and  bewildered  the  imagination  of  both.  Sir,  I  have  seldom 
read  in  history  of  such  remarkable  self-deception,  such  won 
derful  blindness  to  the  signs  of  approaching  disaster,  as  at  that 
moment  characterized  the  two  illustrious  individuals  to  whom 
I  have  alluded.  Permit  me,  sir,  to  read  the  parting  words  of 
General  Jackson,  on  the  3d  of  March,  1837,  and  the  greeting 
declaration  of  Mr.  Van  Buren  on  the  following  day : 

"My  life,"  says  the  retiring  President,  "has  been  a  long 
one,  and  I  cannot  hope  that  it  has,  at  all  times,  been  free  of 
errors.  But  I  have  the  consolation  of  knowing,  that,  if  mis 
takes  have  been  committed,  they  have  not  seriously  injured  the 
country  I  so  anxiously  endeavored  to  serve  ;  and,  at  the  moment 
when  I  surrender  my  last  public  trust,  I  leave  this  great  people 
prosperous  and  happy." — \Farewell  Address.  ] 

On  the  4th  of  March  the  successor  spoke  in  this  strain : 

"  Abroad  we  enjoy  the  respect,  and,  with  scarcely  an  excep 
tion,  the  friendship  of  every  nation.  At  home,  while  our  Gov 
ernment  quietly  but  efficiently  performs  the  sole  legitimate  end  of 
political  institutions,  in  doing  the  greatest  good  to  the  greatest  num 
ber,  we  present  an  aggregate  of  human  prosperity  surely  not  else 
where  to  be  found." — \Inaugural  of  Mr.  Van  Buren^\ 

Sir,  at  the  very  moment  when  these  self-gratulating  gentle 
men  were  vaunting,  in  such  proud  phrase,  of  the  nation's  hap 
piness,  the  deep  thunder  of  the  coming  earthquake  was  al 
ready  muttering  beneath  their  feet.  The  retiring  chief  had 


DIPLOMATIC    APPROPRIATIONS.  255 

scarcely  reached  the  Hermitage — the  complacent  successor 
had  scarcely  been  domesticated  under  the  roof  of  the  palace — 
before  the  great  doom  broke  over  the  land,  and  scattered  dis 
may  from  our  remotest  confine  to  the  centre.  The  President 
saw  every  vestige  of  the  illusion  vanish  in  an  instant ;  and  that 
couch  of  roses,  upon  which  he  had  so  confidently  hoped  to  lie 
down,  became  a  bed  of  thorns.  Amidst  the  crash  of  the  cur 
rency,  the  insolvency  of  the  Government,  and  the  general  dis 
tress  and  wailing  of  the  people,  almost  his  first  act  of  author 
ity  was  to  summon  Congress  to  his  aid.  They  came  here,  sir, 
but  to  bear  testimony  to  the  wide-spread  havoc  of  the  storm. 
The  President  met  them  in  humbleness  of  heart,  in  grief  and 
dismay ;  he  implored  a  hand  to  help ;  he  sought  consolation 
where  there  was  none  to  be  found — upon  the  bosom  of  his 
party  :  the  party  had  lost  its  power. 

Fresh  difficulties  have  thickened  around  him  at  every  stage 
of  his  progress  since  that  day.  In  the  South,  the  Indian  war 
has  been  but  a  series  of  disasters.  We  have  been  baffled,  ex 
hausted,  beaten,  by  a  handful  of  savages.  On  the  Northern 
frontier  our  weakness  has  become  a  by-word  of  contempt. 
This  great  Republic,  in  the  hands  of  its  present  rulers,  is  not 
even  able  to  preserve  its  neutrality  in  the  domestic  rebellion 
of  a  Power  with  whom  we  profess  \o  hold  the  most  friendly 
relations ;  and  we  are  obliged  to  confess  our  inability  to  re 
strain  the  armaments  of  our  own  citizens,  which  are  directed 
against  a  neighbor's  peace :  yes,  sir,  even  to  submit  to  the 
humiliation  of  having  our  own  territory  visited,  our  vessels 
seized,  and  our  citizens  slaughtered  in  our  own  harbor,  by 
that  neighbor  Power,  on  the  plea  of  weakness  to  enforce  our 
laws. 

In  the  embarrassments  which  have  been  brought  upon  our 
fiscal  affairs,  in  the  prostration  of  the  agricultural,  the  mercan 
tile,  and  the  manufacturing  prosperity  of  the  country,  the  ad 
ministration  has  been  able  to  suggest  no  adequate  relief.  We 
struggle  along  upon  expedients.  The  vis  insita  of  the  nation, 
its  intrinsic  vigor,  which  not  even  misgovernment  has  been 


256  POLITICAL    PAPERS. 

able  totally  to  crush,  has,  by  slow  degrees,  begun  to  revive  the 
prosperity  of  the  land  ;  but  the  Government  has  done  nothing. 
Whatever  might  be  expected  from  the  patriotism,  the  virtue, 
the  intelligence  of  the  people,  they  have  nobly  realized  ;  what 
ever  has  been  left  to  the  Government,  has  languished  and 
faded  in  its  hands.  The  guardians  of  the  Treasury  have  fallen 
asleep  ;  felonies,  unmatched  in  enormity,  have  been  detected 
in  the  innermost  shrine  of  the  temple  :  the  very  priests  have 
robbed  the  altar.  The  nation  has  but  extricated  itself  from 
one  debt  to  create  another  ;  the  finances  are  in  confusion  ;  the 
revenue  inadequate  to  the  expenditure  ;  our  hard-money  Gov 
ernment  has  fallen  into  a  paper-manufacturing  Government. 
Our  rulers  are  at  their  wit's  end ;  all  around  are  the  signs  of 
their  doom,  the  warnings  of  their  downfall.  The  truth  stands 
confessed — it  is  felt  in  every  department  of  the  public  affairs 
— that  the  President  and  his  friends  are  incompete?it  to  the  crisis  : 

THEY    WANT   ABILITY. 

Turn,  sir,  to  the  Executive  mansion,  and  inquire  what  they 
are  who  at  this  moment  guide  the  fortunes  of  this  land.  An 
easy,  indolent,  luxurious  chief  presides  over  a  cabinet,  of 
which  it  would  be  flattery  to  say  that  it  was  a  mere  persona 
tion  of  feebleness.  To  the  members  of  that  cabinet,  per 
sonally,  sir,  so  far  as  a  very  limited  acquaintance  may  warrant, 
I  am  willing  to  accord  all  consideration  and  respect.  I  speak 
of  them  here  as  a  public  body.  A  more  diversified  compound 
of  dulness,  inaptitude,  and  ignorance  of  official  duty ;  a 
greater  lack  of  energy  ;  a  more  sorely  perplexed,  bewildered, 
and  dismayed  association  of  state  counsellors,  were  never, 
perhaps,  exhibited  around  a  council-table  than  may,  at  this 
present  juncture,  be  seen  in  the  daily  anxious  conferences  of 
this  precious  cabinet.  Since  the  days  of  the  Merry  Monarch 
of  England,  and  his  hair-brained  crony  Rochester,  never  were 
the  destinies  of  a  great  nation  intrusted  to  more  incompetent 
hands. 

I  might  except  from  this  censure,  and  do  except,  one  who 
has  the  reputation  of  being  a  regular  attendant  at  these  coun- 


DIPLOMATIC    APPROPRIATIONS.  257 

cil  meetings — I  doubt  not,  the  first  to  come  and  the  last  to 
depart — a  personage  more  notorious  than  distinguished,  and 
yet,  sir,  boasting  no  small  claim  to  distinction.  I  mean  that 
man-of-all-work,  whose  marvellous  exaltation  from  the  kitchen 
up  to  the  chamber  nearest  to  the  King,  is  one  of  the  most 
striking  moral  significations  of  the  times.  This,  sir,  is  his  ad- 
administration.  Whatever  remainder  of  efficacy  it  has,  is  his  ; 
whatever  of  shrewdness,  of  cohesion,  of  malice,  or  of  mischief 
it  has,  belongs  to  him.  By  his  sufferance  does  every  member 
of  that  cabinet  hold  his  place — or  did,  sir,  for  I  trust  his  influ 
ence  is  drawing  to  an  end.  Yea,  even  the  placid  and  pliant 
chief  himself  has  found  his  account  in  the  good  will  of  this 
Mephistophiles.  He  is  the  link  between  the  past  administra 
tion  and  the  present ;  the  conduit-pipe  by  which  the  surplus 
popularity  of  the  one  is  transfused  into  the  waning  circulation 
of  the  other ;  the  ligament  that  still  unites  the  small  fortunes 
of  the  polished  and  pleasure-loving  tenant  of  the  palace,  to 
the  more  robust  destiny  of  the  grim  and  fearful  lion  that  has 
his  lair  at  the  Hermitage. 

But  for  this  one  informing  spirit,  yonder  whole  cabinet 
array  of  impracticable,  skilless,  temporizing,  expedient-mon- 
gering  statesmen  would,  long  before  this,  have  floundered  to 
the  bottom  of  that  pool  of  turbid  party-waters  in  which  they 
now  struggle  for  respiration.  The  day,  sir,  is  not  remote  when 
they  and  their  guardian  genius  shall  sink  together  in  this  oozy 
tide,  and  be  remembered  no  more. 

Mr.  Chairman,  I  take  some  consolation  in  this  melancholy 
view  of  the  public  affairs,  from  the  conviction  that  the  nation 
has  been  already  driven  by  headstrong  counsel,  by  weakness 
and  by  passion,  to  that  extreme  from  which  it  cannot  but  hap 
pen  that  the  tide  of  government,  shall  flow  back  into  a  safer 
channel.  Out  of  the  very  incompetency  of  our  present  rulers 
do  I  gather  food  for  hope.  There  are  already,  sir,  manifold 
signs  of  restoration.  We  cannot  mistake  them.  We  are  on 
the  backward  march  from  Jacksonism.  The  footsteps  were 
abandoned  at  the  first  stride.  rphe  Great  Reaction  has  com- 


2CO  POLITICAL    PAPERS. 

Sir,  the  unity  of  the  Executive  has  dissipated  into  thin  air. 
Instead  of  being  a  unit  it  is  multiform — a  polygon — a  many- 
headed  monster — and  of  more  heads  than  arms  ; — not  Bria- 
reus  but  Hydra.  In  this  matter  of  the  defalcations,  Mr.  Van 
Buren  is  no  man  for  responsibility ;  neither  is  any  one  of  his 
cabinet  ready  to  maintain  that  ancient  dogma  of  Jacksonism. 
Sauve  qui pent !  is  the  motto  of  the  day. 

The  President  is  no  longer  the  Representative  of  the  people. 
He  now  supplicates  Congress  to  take  the  responsibility  for  the 
future ;  entreats  them  to  appoint  committees  to  watch  the 
Treasury  rogues  ;  he  prays  the  Legislature  to  inspect  the  Exec 
utive  !  He  implores  the  representatives  of  the  nation  to  help 
him — a  weak  and  humble  minister  of  their  laws.  Hear  him  : 

"  I  submit  to  your  consideration  whether  a  committee  of  Con 
gress  might  not  be  profitably  employed  in  inspecting,  at  such 
intervals  as  might  be  deemed  proper,  the  affairs  and  accounts 
of  officers  intrusted  with  the  custody  of  the  public  moneys. 
The  frequent  performance  of  this  duty  might  be  made  obliga 
tory  on  the  committee,  in  respect  to  those  officers  who  have 
large  sums  in  their  possession,  and  left  discretionary  in  respect 
to  others.  They  might  report  to  the  Executive  such  defalca 
tions  as  were  found  to  exist,  with  a  view  to  prompt  removal 
from  office,  unless  the  default  was  satisfactorily  accounted  for." 
— Message  of  December,  1838. 

Then,  sir,  we  have  no  more  lecturing  on  the  hard-money 
dogma.  We  have  come  back  to  the  toleration  of  paper  ;  nay, 
sir,  we  have  become  ultra  in  this  paper-mongering.  The  Pres 
ident  is  the  patron  of  free  banking.  His  confidential  friend 
on  this  floor,  the  chairman  of  the  Committee  of  Ways  and  Means 
(Mr.  Cambreleng),  at  the  last  session  gave  us  a  panegyric  on 
the  conservative  property  of  that  great  system.  The  Govern 
ment  is  in  close  alliance  with  the  monster.  The  lion  and  the 
lamb  have  lain  down  together,  and  the  Treasury  is  now  the 
chief  fountain  of  the  despised  rag-money.  Even  the  much 
talked-of  Increase  of  the  Specie  Basis  has  fallen  into  oblivion. 
Not  a  word  in  its  favor  has  been  uttered  at  the  present  session. 
The  message,  upon  it,  is  dumb. 


DIPLOMATIC    APPROPRIATIONS.  261 

These  are  all  changes  of  high  import :  they  are  the  visible 
and  conspicuous  signs  of  Reaction.  Sir,  in  the  name  of  the 
country,  I  thank  Mr.  Van  Buren  for  these  tokens  of  repent 
ance — for  even  this  late  surrender  of  Jacksonism !  Phaeton 
has  thrown  up  the  reins  ! 

Mr.  Chairman,  it  will  be  observed,  that  as  the  administra 
tion  deserts  its  former  test-principles  and  measures,  it  is  busy 
to  frame  new  devices  for  party  association.  Political  man 
agement  has,  very  recently,  entered  a  fresh  field.  We  have 
most  suddenly  conjured  up  Abolition  for  the  Whigs,  and  the 
Defence  of  Slavery  for  "  The  Party."  The  Whigs,  sir,  have 
been  sagaciously  attempted  to  be  identified,  by  the  administra 
tion  press,  with  that  unhappy  Northern  excitement  against 
slavery,  which,  until  the  commencement  of  the  present  session, 
no  man  was  so  blind  as  not  to  perceive  had  pursued  its  career 
without  the  slightest  connection  with  parties  ;  which,  until  then, 
too,  sir,  no  man  was  so  unprincipled  as  to  assert  had  sought 
the  aid  of  a  special  political  alliance  with  friend  or  foe*  of  the 
administration.  Sir,  it  is  curious  to  note  the  slippery  equivo 
cation,  the  distortion,  the  desperate  legerdemain  of  deception, 
of  the  official  organ  "  The  Globe,"  on  this  subject. 

Not  even  the  ponderous  momentum  of  falsehood,  which 
long  use  and  munificent  government  support  have  given  to 
that  party  machine  ;  not  even  its  practised  and  subtle  spirit  of 
misrepresentation,  is  competent  to  cast  an  air  of  plausibility 
over  this  shallow  trick.  It  is  the  flimsiest,  the  baldest  inven 
tion  that  ever  came  from  the  cudgelled  brains  of  "  your  scurvy 
politician."  What  honest  man  can  look  at  the  elections  which 
have  recently  taken  place  in  the  North  and  West,  and  acquaint 
himself  with  the  sentiments  of  the  several  candidates  on  this 
abolition  question,  and  then  say,  as  the  Globe  has  said,  that  no 
Democrat  (as  that  truthful  paper  styles  its  friends)  is  found  an 
abolitionist  ?  How  tolerant  is  "  the  organ"  and  its  patrons  of 
the  eccentricities  of  "  the  Democrats"  on  this  subject !  How 
kindly  does  it  digest  the  ultra  anti-slavery  indignation  of  Messrs. 
Morton  and  Rantoul,  and  Alexander,  Everett  and  Bancroft,  in 


2(32  POLITICAL    PAPERS. 

the  North,  of  Messrs.  Morris  and  Tappan,  and  the  member 
from  Cincinnati,  in  the  West  ! 

Sir,  it  needs  no  ghost  to  make  us  acquainted  with  the  pa 
ternity  and  drift  of  this  plot.  In  the  Sub-Treasury  bill  of  this 
session — if  the  party  should  have  courage  to  take  it  up — it  is 
well  understood  that  no  specie  clause  may  hope  for  the  favor  of 
the  House  :  that,  sir,  is  to  be  abandoned  per  force.  The  ad 
ministration  cannot  limp  along  with  such  a  burden  on  the  bill. 
Now,  sir,  a  certain  great  oracle  has  declared  that  this  Sub- 
Treasury  scheme,  without  the  specie  clause,  is  a  mere  farce.  Upon 
the  faith  of  that  clause  alone,  rested,  until  now,  the  fealty  of  a 
suddenly-converted  State  to  the  administration.  Strike  it  out, 
sir,  and  what  holds  South  Carolina  to  the  worship  of  her  strange 
gods  ?  What  but  this  pretext  of  the  alliance  of  the  Whigs  with 
the  Abolitionists  ?  For  the  nonce,  it  was  found  expedient  that 
the  Northern  man  should  be  imbued  with  Southern  principles  ; 
the  institutions  of  the  South  were  to  be  declared  in  danger 
from  trie  Whigs  ;  great  apprehensions  were  to  be  awakened 
among  the  Southern  people.  All  this,  sir,  was  the  shabby  in 
vention  in  which  was  to  be  found  motive  for  the  fabrication  of 
a  new  bond  of  union  between  the  disappointed  Specie-clause- 
sub-treasuryites  and  the  administration.  Then,  another  North 
ern  man,  with  Southern  principles,  was  to  be  manufactured  out 
of  a  New  Hampshire  Representative  ;  and  he  and  his  comrades 
were  to  sacrifice  their  Abolitionism  on  the  altar  of  their  party, 
and  come  to  the  rescue.  There,  sir,  is  the  whole  plot !  It  has 
been  acted  out  exactly  as  it  was  set  down.  The  resolutions 
against  the  slavery  petitions  have  been  offered  by  the  North, 
and  South  Carolina  is  bound  in  eternal  gratitude  to  this  admin 
istration  !  The  farce  was  gravely  and  discreetly  rehearsed, 
and  is  hereafter,  to  be  played  again  before  the  nation.  I  com 
mend  to  the  actors  in  this  entertainment  Nic  Bottom's  advice: 
"  Masters,  you  ought  to  consider  with  yourselves.  To  bring 
in  (God  shield  us  !)  a  lion  among  ladies  is  a  most  dreadful 
thing  ;  for,  there  is  not  a  more  fearful  wild-fowl  than  your  lion 
living,  and  we  ought  to  look  to  it."  There  is  but  one  expedi 


DIPLOMATIC    APPROPRIATIONS.  263 

ent,  sir,  left  to  us  Whigs  in  the  sad  dilemma  which  the  alarms 
of  our  Southern  friends  may  bring  us  into — when  this  lion 
comes  upon  the  stage,  we  shall  follow  the  honest  weaver's 
counsel,  and  "  name  his  name,  and  say,  plainly,  he  is  no  lion, 
but  Snug,  the  Joiner." 

It  was  another  trick  of  party,  Mr.  Chairman,  when  the  co 
hesion  of  the  friends  of  the  administration  began  to  give  way, 
to  seek  for  some  new  name  by  which  the  forces  might  be  ral 
lied.  The  characteristic  principles  and  measures  of  the  party 
having  become  distasteful  to  the  nation,  it  was  in  the  emergen 
cy  of  self-preservation  that  it  looked  around  for  some  appella 
tive  which  might  be  substituted  in  the  place  of  a  meritorious 
but  uattainable  distinction.  Until  the  moment  of  General  Jack 
son's  retirement,  the  party  was  his  party.  It  followed  him 
through  all  his  fancies,  liked  what  he  liked,  opposed  what  he 
opposed.  It  was  personal  to  him,  and  derived  its  strength 
from  his  popularity.  When  he  withdrew,  it,  of  necessity,  was 
destined  soon  to  lose  its  character  as  a  Jackson  party — although 
that  name,  even  yet,  has  magic  in  it  to  rally  its  myrmidons  : 
many  a  vote  is  yet  given  for  no  better  reason  than  that  the 
hickory-tree  is  engraved  upon  the  ballot.  Still,  sir,  with  the 
departure  of  General  Jackson  to  private  life,  the  Jackson  party 
was  destined  to  decay.  There  could  be  no  Van-Buren  party. 
That  never  was  a  name  to  conjure  with.  It  was,  therefore, 
deemed  a  lucky  thought  when  some  central  conclave  of  politi 
cal  managers  resolved  to  change  the  badge  from  Jackson  to 
"  the  Democracy."  I  will  not  dispute  their  right  to  the  name  : 
all  the  world  knows  how  little  signification,  as  indicative  of 
principles,  it  carries  with  it.  No  man  can  be  deceived  out  of 
the  knowledge  that  those  who  profess  now  to  be  the  "exclusive 
Democrats"  have  veered  round  the  whole  compass  of  opinion, 
and  alternately  vindicated  and  vilified  every  prominent  meas 
ure  of  policy  which  the  last  ten  years  have  brought  into  view. 
No  man  can  be  blind  to  the  fact  that  the  standard  tenet  of  this 
new-hatched  Democracy  is  to  go  for  the  greatest  share  of  spoil 
to  the  greatest  number  of  persons,  and  to  render  fealty  to  the  par- 


26-i  POLITICAL    PAPERS. 

ty  for  a  consideration.  No  man  can  affect  to  believe  that  con 
scientious  opinion,  as  to  the  country's  good,  forms  any  element 
in  the  organization  of  the  array.  I  advert  to  it,  sir,  only  to  ex 
press  my  conviction  that  the  name  has  been  chosen  with  a  sin 
gular  disregard  to  the  feelings  of  some  of  its  principal  leaders. 
I  can  point  out  individuals  in  those  ranks,  who,  but  a  few 
years  gone  by,  would  not  have  more  promptly  resented  any  in 
sult  than  to  be  called  "  a  Democrat."  And  I  can  show  too, 
sir  (in  my  own  State  especially),  a  phalanx  of  ardent  friends 
of  the  ruling  power — prime,  accredited  leaders  of  the  faithful 
— who,  even  yet,  have  not  overcome  an  involuntary  habit  of 
wincing  at  the  name.  And  although  such  friends  may,  in  time* 
perhaps,  be  able  to  avow  their  new  distinction  without  a  blush, 
I  think  they  may  scarcely  be  brought,  by  the  force  of  discip 
line,  to  do  that  necessary  service,  which  the  name  exacts,  of 
proscribing  and  denouncing  an  opponent  as  "  a  Federalist." 

Mr.  Chairman,  I  care  not  for  these  new  tactics  of  the  adver 
sary.  I  think,  sir,  the  public  affairs  have  fallen  into  that  condi 
tion  in  which  no  stratagem  can  have  power  to  avert  the  reckon 
ing  which  the  people  will  exact  from  their  governors.  The  peo 
ple,  however  much  they  may  have  been  imposed  on  and  betray 
ed,  can  have  no  sentiments  hostile  to  the  good  of  the  country. 
They  are  neither  office-holders  nor  office-seekers.  Their  in 
terests  all  look  to  the  establishment  of  order,  security,  and  hon 
est  administration.  Their  aim  is  the  honor  and  happiness  of 
the  nation  ;  and  if  their  exertions  do  not  promote  these  ends, 
it  is  only  because  they  are  not  permitted  to  know  the  truth  re 
garding  the  past  conduct  or  future  designs  of  their  servants. 
I  feel  assured  that,  let  the  men  in  power  assume  what  name 
they  may,  the  virtue,  good  sense,  and  keen  sight  of  the  na 
tion  will  not  be  imposed  upon  by  these  motley  creeds  of  the 
clay,  even  though  those  who  profess  them  assume  a  title  once 
honored  in  the  public  affections.  Charlatanry  is  fast  flying  be 
fore  the  public  rebuke,  and  is  dropping  its  garments,  one  by 
one  in  its  flight.  Sound  opinion,  rendered  more  vigorous  from 
its  long  sleep,  and  more  eager  to  do  its  duty  from  a  conscious- 


DIPLOMATIC    APPROPRIATIONS.  265 

ness  of  having  been  imposed  on,  is  rousing  up  to  its  appropriate 
office.  It  is  going  forth  to  gather  the  people  for  the  holy  war 
fare,  devoted  to  the  purification  of  the  national  halls,  and  the 
restitution  of  our  ancient  honor.  In  the  tide  of  that  warfare, 
"  like  reeds  before  the  tempest's  frown,"  we  shall  see  this  host 
of  spurious  statesmen,  and  abject  followers,  and  spoil-seeking 
patriots,  laid  low.  When  that  consummation  is  won,  the  na 
tion  will  rejoice  with  an  exceeding  joy.  The  oldest  man  among 
us,  sir,  may  yet  live  to  take  his  part  in  that  jubilee. 

In  conclusion,  Mr.  Chairman,  I  will  say  but  a  few  words. 
Whether  the  late  administration  existed  for  good  or  for  evil, 
is  a  problem  that  is  soon  to  be  determined.  Never  has  popu 
lar  government  been  subjected  to  a  severer  test.  We  have  gone 
through  the  proof  ordeal :  it  may  not  recur  again  in  a  century 
— perhaps  forever.  We  may  rejoice,  sir,  that  the  nation  sur 
vives  that  shock — not  only  survives,  but  that  a  healthful  reac 
tion  is  in  progress,  which  must  ultimately  establish,  on  the  se 
curest  foundation,  the  liberty  derived  from  the  forms  of  our  so 
cial  alliance. 

In  the  last  ten  years,  we  have  seen  the  republican  principle 
driven  into  the  confines  of  actual  despotism ;  the  aggregate 
power  of  the  people  has  been  made  subservient  to  the  accom 
plishment  of  individual  will :  the  Constitution,  under  plausible 
pretexts,  has  been  superseded  by  a  law  more  congenial  to  the 
purposes  of  party  arrangement — its  landmarks  have  been  tran 
scended,  its  precepts  disobeyed,  for  the  sake  of  achieving  the 
purposes  of  the  day.  Many  of  our  institutions  have  been 
assailed ;  some  of  the  most  valuable  battered  down,  and  all 
disparaged  in  the  popular  esteem.  Yet  still  the  tempest  has 
passed  over ;  and,  in  the  revival  of  the  shattered  prosperity  of 
the  land,  the  nation  hastens  back  to  its  primitive  republican 
doctrines,  with  an  earnestness  and  a  zeal  that  assure  us  we 
shall,  at  last,  turn  our  chastisement  to  a  righteous  use.  The 
cause  of  free  government  has  gained  strength  by  the  aberrations 
into  which  it  has  been  betrayed.  Contrition  is  the  parent  of 
amendments  and  past  suffering  the  source  of  future  security. 

12 


2(36  POLITICAL    PAPERS. 

To  my  view,  the  return  to  sound  principles,  the  reaction  of  the 
integrity  of  the  nation,  is  certain  in  its  march,  and  presents  a 
most  grateful  exhibition  of  the  innate  strength  of  our  people. 
May  it  go  on,  sir,  until  it  restore  all  that  we  have  lost  in  our 
late  conflicts  of  power,  and  place  this  nation  upon  that  emi 
nence  where  all  may  see  her,  the  first  and  best  assured  among 
the  free  communities  of  the  world. 


THE   PROTECTIVE    SYSTEM.  267 


LETTEK 

TO  HIS  CONSTITUENTS,  CITIZENS  OF  THE  FOURTH  CONGRES 
SIONAL  DISTRICT  IN  THE  STATE  OF  MARYLAND,  ON  THE 
PRINCIPLES  AND  VALUE  OF  THE  PROTECTIVE  SYSTEM. 

I  AM  confident  no  apology  is  necessary  to  my  constituents 
for  this  letter.  The  tariff  question  is  one  in  which  they 
have  manifested  a  much  more  than  ordinary  concern:  and  as 
we  have  many  indications  that  it  is  not  yet  settled,  notwith 
standing  the  recent  action  of  Congress,  I  have  thought  it  my 
duty,  in  the  relation  I  hold  to  the  public,  to  contribute  what  I 
can  to  the  general  understanding  of  the  subject. 

I  should  have  followed  the  custom  of  writing  out  and  pub 
lishing  "  my  speech"  upon  this  question,  if  it  were  not  that  the 
country  has  become  somewhat  surfeited  with  Congressional 
speeches,  and  that  I  have  found  reason  to  prefer  a  form  of  com 
munication  which  allows  me  to  omit  such  topics  as  have  now  lost 
their  interest,  and  to  produce  others  which  could  not  have  been 
properly  treated  within  the  limits  of  that  salutary  rule  which 
confined  each  speaker  to  an  hour. 

It  might  have  been  remarked,  at  the  last  session  of  Con 
gress,  that,  distinguished  as  it  was  by  conflicts  of  party  opinion 
upon  almost  every  other  question,  a  great  unanimity  prevailed 
as  to  the  financial  distress  of  the  Government.  All  admitted  that 
it  was  as  bad  as  it  could  be.  A  lively  proof  of  this  distress  was 
furnished  at  frequent  intervals  during  the  session,  in  the  impor 
tunate  calls  of  the  Executive  for  aid — calls  which  never  failed  to 
be  accompanied  with  the  announcement  that  the  Government 
paper  was  under  protest.  In  truth,  for  four  years  previous,  the 


2(38  POLITICAL    PAPERS. 

fiscal  affairs  of  the  nation  had  been  administered  on  a  misera 
ble  plan  of  expedients  ;  the  Government  had  regularly  expend 
ed  some  seven  or  eight  millions  annually  beyond  its  income. 
Like  a  trader,  tottering  towards  bankruptcy,  it  had  been  living 
upon  accommodation,  issuing  paper  for  its  debts,  and  paying 
that  off  at  maturity  by  issuing  more — spunging  upon  the  pub 
lic  by  means  of  a  false  credit.  At  last,  even  that  wretched  re 
source  failed,  and  Congress  was  obliged  to  look  these  difficul 
ties  in  the  face. 

It  was  very  evident  that  the  common  sentiment  of  the 
country  demanded  a  change  in  this  course  of  administration. 
The  people  would  no  longer  endure  it.  It  seemed  to  be  a 
duty  especially  assigned  to  that  Congress  to  put  the  Govern 
ment  in  possession  of  its  proper  resources ;  to  break  up  this 
system  of  borrowing,  in  anticipation  of  means  not  provided, 
and  to  regulate  the  expenditures  by  the  actual  state  of  the 
Treasury.  Both  Houses  accordingly  addressed  themselves  to 
this  task ;  and,  notwithstanding  the  systematic  efforts  made  by 
the  Executive  and  its  press,  during  the  whole  session,  and  ever 
since,  to  disparage  the  labors  and  calumniate  the  character  of 
that  session,  every  thing  was  done  which  an  assiduous  and  in 
telligent  devotion  to  the  welfare  of  the  country  could  accom 
plish,  against  the  perverse  counteraction  of  the  President  aided 
by  a  minority  in  Congress,  whose  highest  delight  was  found  in 
promoting  confusion  wherever  it  was  found  most  likely  to  be 
mischievous,  and  in  abetting  the  designs  of  the  Chief  Magis 
trate  to  bring  the  majority  into  disgrace. 

One  of  the  most  valuable  measures  which  was  carried  un 
der  these  difficulties  was  the  tariff  act.  That  act  is  now  threat 
ened  with  a  repeal  by  a  party  whom  there  is  no  reason  to  doubt 
will  be  a  majority  in  the  next  Congress,  and  with  whom  there 
is  as  little,  that  the  President,  if  they  will  permit  the  fraternity, 
will  co-operate  to  any  extent  of  exasperated  hostility  in  assailing 
each  and  every  favorite  measure  of  those  to  whom  he  owes  all 
the  power  he  possesses,  and  all  the  good-fortune  that  ought  to 
have  made  him  an  object  of  respect  with  his  countrymen.  The 


THE    PROTECTIVE    SYSTEM.  2G9 

friends  of  a  tariff,  therefore,  have  the  most  serious  cause  for 
alarm. 

The  tariff,  in  its  first  aspect  presents  a  question  very  impor 
tant  to  the  revenue. 

It  is  estimated  that  the  expenditures  of  the  Government, 
for  some  years  to  come,  will  require  twenty-seven  millions. 
How  is  this  amount  to  be  procured  ? 

A  very  audible  voice  has  arisen,  recommending  DIRECT  TAX 
ATION.  That  voice  was  first  heard  from  the  South,  and  it  has 
been  echoed  by  more  than  one  representative  of  the  North 
among  those  who  are  most  ambitious  to  be  thought  the  pecu 
liar  democracy  of  the  land.  We  are  given  to  understand,  that 
as  the  South  holds  all  duties  to  be  an  abomination,  the  only 
legitimate  mode  of  raising  revenue  for  the  support  of  the  Gov 
ernment  is  by  a  direct  tax. 

The  South,  perhaps,  has  less  reason  to  advocate  this  mode 
of  raising  money  than  any  other  section  of  the  Confederacy. 
As  that  section  consumes  less  of  duty-paying  commodities,  in 
proportion  to  its  entire  population,  than  any  other,  so  it  contrib 
utes  less  to  the  revenues,  as  they  are  now  levied.  It  is  diffi 
cult,  therefore,  to  conceive  any  interest  which  it  could  feel  in 
the  substitution  of  taxation  for  duties,  but  the  desire  (and  that 
is  scarcely  to  be  supposed)  to  conciliate  the  good-will  of  its 
foreign  customers  by  a  tribute  to  those  principles  of  American 
free  trade  which  are  known  to  be  so  agreeable  to  the  rigid  re 
striction  ists  of  England  and  France. 

There  are  objections  to  a  direct  tax,  of  which  we  in  Mary 
land  may  speak  feelingly.  They  who  have  not  tried  it  are  ac 
customed  to  represent  it  as  the  most  equal  and  fair  mode  of 
raising  money.  It  is  even  pronounced  to  be  the  only  true  dem 
ocratic  mode.  I  think  all  who  have  been  so  unhappy  as  to 
possess  our  experience  on  the  subject  will  be  prepared  to  admit 
that  it  is  exceedingly  unequal.  Many  pay  much  beyond  their 
just  proportion,  many  much  below  it ;  some,  with  abundant 
means  evade  it  altogether.  It  is  the  willing  horse  that  takes  the 
greatest  burden.  Nothing  is  so  difficult  as  to  assess  even  real 


208  POLITICAL    PAPERS. 

fiscal  affairs  of  the  nation  had  been  administered  on  a  misera 
ble  plan  of  expedients  ;  the  Government  had  regularly  expend 
ed  some  seven  or  eight  millions  annually  beyond  its  income. 
Like  a  trader,  tottering  towards  bankruptcy,  it  had  been  living 
upon  accommodation,  issuing  paper  for  its  debts,  and  paying 
that  off  at  maturity  by  issuing  more — spunging  upon  the  pub 
lic  by  means  of  a  false  credit.  At  last,  even  that  wretched  re 
source  failed,  and  Congress  was  obliged  to  look  these  difficul 
ties  in  the  face. 

It  was  very  evident  that  the  common  sentiment  of  the 
country  demanded  a  change  in  this  course  of  administration. 
The  people  would  no  longer  endure  it.  It  seemed  to  be  a 
duty  especially  assigned  to  that  Congress  to  put  the  Govern 
ment  in  possession  of  its  proper  resources ;  to  break  up  this 
system  of  borrowing,  in  anticipation  of  means  not  provided, 
and  to  regulate  the  expenditures  by  the  actual  state  of  the 
Treasury.  Both  Houses  accordingly  addressed  themselves  to 
this  task ;  and,  notwithstanding  the  systematic  efforts  made  by 
the  Executive  and  its  press,  during  the  whole  session,  and  ever 
since,  to  disparage  the  labors  and  calumniate  the  character  of 
that  session,  every  thing  was  done  which  an  assiduous  and  in 
telligent  devotion  to  the  welfare  of  the  country  could  accom 
plish,  against  the  perverse  counteraction  of  the  President  aided 
by  a  minority  in  Congress,  whose  highest  delight  was  found  in 
promoting  confusion  wherever  it  was  found  most  likely  to  be 
mischievous,  and  in  abetting  the  designs  of  the  Chief  Magis 
trate  to  bring  the  majority  into  disgrace. 

One  of  the  most  valuable  measures  which  was  carried  un 
der  these  difficulties  was  the  tariff  act.  That  act  is  now  threat 
ened  with  a  repeal  by  a  party  whom  there  is  no  reason  to  doubt 
will  be  a  majority  in  the  next  Congress,  and  with  whom  there 
is  as  little,  that  the  President,  if  they  will  permit  the  fraternity, 
will  co-operate  to  any  extent  of  exasperated  hostility  in  assailing 
each  and  every  favorite  measure  of  those  to  whom  he  owes  all 
the  power  he  possesses,  and  all  the  good-fortune  that  ought  to 
have  made  him  an  object  of  respect  with  his  countrymen.  The 


THE    PROTECTIVE    SYSTEM.  269 

friends  of  a  tariff,  therefore,  have  the  most  serious  cause  for 
alarm. 

The  tariff,  in  its  first  aspect  presents  a  question  very  impor 
tant  to  the  revenue. 

It  is  estimated  that  the  expenditures  of  the  Government, 
for  some  years  to  come,  will  require  twenty -seven  millions. 
How  is  this  amount  to  be  procured  ? 

A  very  audible  voice  has  arisen,  recommending  DIRECT  TAX 
ATION.  That  voice  was  first  heard  from  the  South,  and  it  has 
been  echoed  by  more  than  one  representative  of  the  North, 
among  those  who  are  most  ambitious  to  be  thought  the  pecu 
liar  democracy  of  the  land.  We  are  given  to  understand,  that 
as  the  South  holds  all  duties  to  be  an  abomination,  the  only 
legitimate  mode  of  raising  revenue  for  the  support  of  the  Gov 
ernment  is  by  a  direct  tax. 

The  South,  perhaps,  has  less  reason  to  advocate  this  mode 
of  raising  money  than  any  other  section  of  the  Confederacy. 
As  that  section  consumes  less  of  duty-paying  commodities,  in 
proportion  to  its  entire  population,  than  any  other,  so  it  contrib 
utes  less  to  the  revenues,  as  they  are  now  levied.  It  is  diffi 
cult,  therefore,  to  conceive  any  interest  which  it  could  feel  in 
the  substitution  of  taxation  for  duties,  but  the  desire  (and  that 
is  scarcely  to  be  supposed)  to  conciliate  the  good-will  of  its 
foreign  customers  by  a  tribute  to  those  principles  of  American 
free  trade  which  are  known  to  be  so  agreeable  to  the  rigid  re- 
strictionists  of  England  and  France. 

There  are  objections  to  a  direct  tax,  of  which  we  in  Mary 
land  may  speak  feelingly.  They  who  have  not  tried  it  are  ac 
customed  to  represent  it  as  the  most  equal  and  fair  mode  of 
raising  money.  It  is  even  pronounced  to  be  the  only  true  dem 
ocratic  mode.  I  think  all  who  have  been  so  unhappy  as  to 
possess  our  experience  on  the  subject  will  be  prepared  to  admit 
that  it  is  exceedingly  unequal.  Many  pay  much  beyond  their 
just  proportion,  many  much  below  it ;  some,  with  abundant 
means  evade  it  altogether.  It  is  the  willing  horse  that  takes  the 
greatest  burden.  Nothing  is  so  difficult  as  to  assess  even  real 


270  POLITICAL    PAPERS. 

property,  much  more  the  movable,  by  an  equal  rule  of  valua 
tion  in  different  districts ;  to  make  the  proper  abatements  for  en 
cumbrances,  ground  rents,  mortgages,  and  other  liens.  Heavy 
complaints  are  always  rife  against  the  unfairness  with  which 
these  interests  are  assessed. 

But  the  greater  objection  is,  that  direct  taxation  involves  a 
most  odious  inquisition  into  private  affairs.  The  citizen  has  a 
fretful  aversion  to  it.  He  cannot  be  content,  however  quietly 
he  may  submit,  under  the  prying  visit  of  the  assessor  and  the  im 
portunity  of  his  follower,  the  collector — not  so  much  that  he  is 
unwilling  to  pay  his  money  but  that  he  is  reluctant  to  be  cate 
chised  upon  the  state  of  his  affairs  ;  and  he  is  still  more  vexed  to 
be  dunned  before  he  has  forgotten  his  first  annoyance,  by  the 
most  unwelcome  of  all  vis'tors,  the  tax-gatherer.  He  is  accus 
tomed  to  look  upon  the  whole  proceeding  as  an  invasion  of 
his  household  gods,  and  an  assault  upon  the  privacy  of  the  do 
mestic  hearth,  which  with  reluctant  consent,  he  barely  tolerates. 
It  is  an  old  feeling,  derived  from  our  Saxon  ancestry,  which 
takes  umbrage  at  these  domiciliary  visits  of  the  Government. 
That  "  every  man's  house  is  his  castle"  is  a  maxim  of  our  law, 
and,  more  than  a  mere  maxim,  is  one  of  the  most  cherished 
evidences  of  personal  independence.  "  When  I  speak  of  a 
castle,"  said  Lord  Chatham,  "  I  speak  not  of  a  mansion,  the 
abode  of  some  potentate  or  baron,  surrounded  with  fortifica 
tions  and  towers  and  garrisoned  with  soldiers  ;  but  I  speak  of  a 
tattered  and  wretched  hovel,  the  dwelling  of  some  laborer  or 
peasant,  which  the  wind  and  rain  can  enter,  but  which  the  king 
cannot  enter."  The  humblest  of  our  citizens  will  cheerfully  see 
the  wind  and  the  rain  driving  into  their  unchincked  and  un- 
daubed  tenements,  but  they  never  look  without  distrust,  at  least, 
upon  the  Government  officer  who  may  claim  admission  there. 
They  do  not  choose  to  have  their  castles  invaded,  even  by  the 
Government. 

The  system  of  raising  revenue  by  duties  is  not  only  free 
from  this  annoyance,  but  it  is  a  VOLUNTARY  mode  of  taxation. 
Every  man  has  an  alternative,  to  pay  or  not  to  pay,  at  his 


THE    PROTECTIVE    SYSTEM. 

pleasure,  or  to  pay  just  so  much  as  may  suit  his  ability.  It  is 
but  to  exercise  a  little  self-denial,  and  to  abstain  from  the  use 
of  imported  commodities — to  confine  one's  necessities  to  that 
field  of  domestic  supply  which,  in  the  country,  is  broad  enough 
for  a  thousand  comforts,  and  we  may  escape  the  tax  altogeth 
er.  It  falls,  too,  where  chiefly  it  ought  to  fall,  upon  the  rich 
and  the  luxurious — laying  them  under  contribution,  while,  for 
the  most  part,  it  passes  over  the  poor  man's  head. 

He  who  would  study  the  blessings  of  direct  taxation  need 
but  visit  Maryland.  Here  he  will  see  them  exemplified  in  all 
their  imagined  perfections.  We  require  for  the  interest  of 
our  debt  full  six  hundred  thousand  dollars  a  year.  The  Gov 
ernment  of  the  Union  has  stripped  us  of  this  much-abhorred 
power  of  laying  duties  on  imports.  All  that  is  left  to  us  is  the 
enviable  privilege  of  levying  direct  taxes.  Notwithstanding  the 
encomiums  which  have  been  lavished  upon  this  only  democratic 
mode  of  raising  money,  not  often  have  we  found  the  represen 
tatives  of  our  State,  in  her  Legislature;  willing  to  do  the  peo 
ple  this  favor.  It  has  been  a  quickset  hedge,  which  has  hith 
erto  overthrown  every  party  that  has  ridden  at  it.  But  it  has 
now  become  a  question  of  honor  in  Maryland  to  redeem  her 
plighted  faith ;  and  I  am  proud  to  proclaim  that,  cost  what  it 
may,  that  honor  will  be  preserved  by  a  faithful  performance,  to 
the  uttermost  of  her  ability,  of  every  engagement  she  has  made. 
IT  is  NOW  ONLY  A  QUESTION  OF  TIME.  Upon  this  point  of 
good  faith,  political  parties  can  no  longer  divide  or  differ. 
Each  will  strive,  with  a  noble  emulation,  to  maintain  the  sanc 
tity  of  our  promise,  as  the  common  obligation  which  no  man 
dare  repel.  Such,  I  am  convinced,  is  the  sentiment  of  our 
people,  who,  upon  this  question,  are  even  in  advance  of  their 
representatives. 

If  our  contribution  to  the  national  revenue  were  required 
to  be  furnished  by  a  direct  tax  instead  of  duties,  our  propor 
tion  of  the  twenty-seven  millions  demanded  would  amount  to 
upwards  of  eight  hundred  thousand  dollars ;  this  in  addition 
to  our  State  tax.  Ask  any  of  our  citizens  what  is  his  opinion 


272  POLITICAL   PAPERS. 

of  the  practicability  of  an  annual  levy  of  eight  hundred  thou 
sand  dollars,  in  addition  to  the  present  six  hundred  thousand. 
Ask  him  if  he  would  deem  such  a  levy  more  just  or  more  tol 
erable  than  the  collection  of  an  equal  amount  by  duties  on  im 
ported  merchandise.  He  would  answer,  with  a  look  of  alarm, 
that  it  was  altogether  impossible  to  levy  the  amount  by  taxa 
tion,  and  he  would  answer  truly.  Direct  taxation  is  no  ad 
equate  resource  for  large  revenues,  in  the  present  state  of  the 
population  and  wealth  of  this  country,  especially  in  the  present 
state  of  political  warfare,  which  has  become  the  characteristic 
of  our  times.  When  the  authors  of  the  Constitution  disabled 
the  States  from  raising  money  by  duties,  they  left  their  work 
but  half  done.  They  should  have  also  prohibited  the  States 
from  creating  large  debts  without  the  consent  of  the  Union ; 
for  the  experience  of  this  day  shows  us  that  State  debts  are 
national  concerns ;  that  they  effect  the  national  credit,  and  re 
quire  national  aid.  Without  the  duty  power,  a  State  is  with 
out  its  most  effective  fiscal  power. 

We  had  a  resource  which  would  have  been  to  us,  in  our 
present  need,  all-sufficient,  but  it  has  been  sacrificed  to  the 
vindictive  folly  of  party.  I  mean  our  interest  in  the  public 
lands.  Never  has  party  wrought  its  ends,  in  Maryland,  with 
such  deplorable  madness  as  in  the  sacrifice  of  this  resource. 
Twenty-two  years  ago  the  Maryland  Legislature  first  brought 
the  question  of  our  right  to  the  public  lands  to  the  notice  of 
the  Union.  Year  after  year  the  claim  of  the  States  was  every 
where  acknowledged.  Here,  in  Maryland,  no  son  of  hers  was 
found  to  deny  the  right.  All  parties  admitted  it,  took  a  pride 
in  advocating  it — pressing  it  upon  Congress.  The  Govern 
ment  of  the  Union,  with  the  concurrence  of  both  parties,  agreed 
that  these  lands  ought  not  to  be  brought  into  the  Federal 
revenues.  President  Jackson  himself  proclaimed  the  same 
opinion.  A  bill  was  passed  by  large  majorities  of  Congress 
for  distributing  the  proceeds  among  the  States.  This  bill,  un 
fortunately,  came  from  a  source  which  brought  down  upon  it 
a  keen  Executive  denunciation ;  and  from  that  day  the  distri 


THE    PROTECTIVE    SYSTEM.  273 

bution  has  been  converted  into  a  party  question.  Then,  for 
the  first  time,  after  the  earnest  and  unanimous  advocacy  of  our 
right,  by  both  parties  in  this  State,  for  nearly  twenty  years,  a 
Governor  of  Maryland  was  found  pliant  enough  officially  to 
renounce  our  claim,  and  even  to  render  it  the  subject  of  a 
sharp  and  labored  condemnation.  The  result  of  all  this  action 
has  been,  that  we  have  been  spoiled  of  a  fair  and  goodly  inher 
itance — an  inheritance  won  by  the  blood  of  the  Revolution, 
and  ample  to  have  swept  away,  in  progress  of  time,  that  debt 
which  now  crushes  the  spirit  of  our  State. 

There  is  a  refinement  of  cruelty  in  this  proceeding.  Many 
States  were  lured  into  a  system  of  expensive  public  improve 
ments  by  the  direct  recommendation  and  encouragement  of 
the  General  Government.  This  was  notoriously  true  as  re 
gards  that  work  which  has  occasioned  all  our  embarrassments 
—the  Chesapeake  and  Ohio  canal.  Every  one  knows  that 
that  work  attracted  a  peculiar  degree  of  favor  from  the  Fed 
eral  authorities ;  that  it  was  specially  presented  to  the  atten 
tion  of  Congress  by  Presidents  Monroe  and  Adams  ;  and  that  it 
was  enlarged  in  its  dimensions,  and  of  course  greatly  increased 
in  its  cost,  in  deference  to  the  wishes  of  the  Government.  In 
truth,  the  chief  public  works  of  Maryland  are  almost  exclusive 
ly  national  in  their  character,  and  are  felt  to  be  worth  all  that 
they  have  cost — much  more  to  the  nation  than  to  the  State 
which  has  borne  the  charge  of  their  construction.  We  had 
therefore  an  additional  right  to  expect  that  our  reliance  upon 
the  public  lands  would  not  be  disappointed  Congress  at  last 
recognized  our  long-deferred  claim,  by  appropriating  the  pro 
ceeds  to  the  States.  This  act  was,  however,  coupled  with  a 
condition  which  the  adverse  party — still  bent  on  defeating  the 
claims  of  the  States — were  able  to  dictate.  They  united  the 
question  of  the  lands  with  the  tariff,  by  the  famous  proviso, 
which  was  incorporated  by  the  Senate  in  the  land  bill,  and  the 
friends  of  the  grant  acquiesced  only  because  they  had  no  al 
ternative,  but  with  a  proclamation,  on  their  part,  of  a  deter 
mination  to  sever  this  connection  whenever  they  should  have 
12* 


274  POLITICAL    PAPERS. 

it  in  their  power.  They  were  not  wrong  in  supposing  that, 
at  another  session,  they  would  be  able  to  accomplish  this  sev 
erance,  at  least  as  far  as  the  vote  of  Congress  was  necessary. 
The  act  of  severance  was  accordingly  carried  in  one  of  the 
sections  of  the  tariff  bill  at  the  late  session.  But  a  new  and 
an  unexpected  enemy  had  then  arisen,  in  the  person  of  the 
President.  That  President  who  originally  recommended  the 
distribution — who  declared,  in  the  message  of  the  extra  ses 
sion,  that  this  appropriation  of  the  proceeds  might  produce  a 
a  saving  to  the  Government  of  an  equal  amount  of  annual 
expenditure — who  even  suggested  that  these  proceeds  should 
be  constituted  the  capital  of  a  National  Bank,  and  thus,  of 
course,  be  locked  up  from  the  future  resumption  of  Congress* 
— showing  how  fully  he  desired  their  appropriation  to  be  free 

*  The  following  passages  occur,  on  this  subject,  in  the  message 
of  the  extra  session  : 

"  The  compacts  between  the  proprietor  States  and  this  Govern 
ment  expressly  guaranty  to  the  States  all  the  benefits  which  may 
arise  from  the  sales.  The  mode  by  which  this  is  to  be  effected  ad 
dresses  itself  to  the  discretion  of  Congress,  as  the  trustee  for  the 
States ;  and  its  exercise,  after  the  most  beneficial  manner,  is  restrained 
by  nothing  in  the  grants  or  the  Constitution,  so  long  as  Congress  shall 
consult  that  equality  in  the  distribution  which  the  compacts  require. 
In  the  present  condition  of  some  of  the  States,  the  question  of  dis 
tribution  may  be  regarded  as  substantially  a  question  between  direct 
and  indirect  taxation.  *  *  *  The  happy  effects  of  such  a 

measure  upon  all  the  States  would  immediately  be  manifested.  With 
the  debtor  States  it  would  effect  the  relief  to  a  great  extent  of  the 
citizens  from  a  heavy  burden  of  direct  taxation  which  presses  with 
severity  on  the  laboring  classes,  and  eminently  assist  in  restoring  the 
general  prosperity.  An  immediate  advance  would  take  place  in  the 
price  of  the  State  securities,  and  the  attitude  of  the  States  would  be 
come  once  more,  as  it  should  ever  be,  lofty  and  erect.  With  States  la 
boring  under  no  extreme  pressure  from  debt,  the  fund  which  they 
would  derive  from  this  source  would  enable  them  to  improve  their  con 
dition  in  an  eminent  degree.  So  far  as  this  Government  is  concerned, 
appropriations  to  domestic  objects,  approaching  in  amount  the  revenue 
derived  from  the  land  sales,  might  be  abandoned,  and  thus  a  system  of 
unequal  and  therefore  unjust  legislation  would  be  substituted  by  one 
dispensing  equality  to  all  the  members  of  this  Confederacy.  Whether 
such  distribution  should  be  made  directly  to  the  States  in  the  pro 
ceeds  of  the  pales,  or  in  the  form  of  profits  by  virtue  of  the  opera 
tions  of  any  fiscal  agency  having  these  proceeds  as  its  basis,  should 
such  measure  be  contemplated  by  Congress,  would  well  deserve  its 
consideration." 


THE    PROTECTIVE    SYSTEM.  275 

from  any  condition  of  restoration  in  case  of  insufficient  reve 
nue — that  President  so  committed  to  the  measure,  so  glorying 
in  it,  partaking,  as  every  one  supposed,  in  the  mortification 
experienced  by  the  friends  of  distribution  at  its  compulsory 
union  with  the  tariff—  turned  his  back  upon  his  own  recom 
mendation,  and,  affecting  to  consider  the  connection  of  the  two 
subjects  a  solemn,  irrepealable  contract,  interposed  the  mis 
chievous  power  of  the  veto  against  the  severance,  and  thus  in 
flicted  the  deepest  wrong  that  hatred  could  devise  upon  all 
those  interests  in  the  country  whose  hopes  he  had  originally 
flattered.  He  has  endeavored  to  justify  this  act  by  an  addi 
tional  plea,  that  the  credit  of  the  United  States  stood  in  need 
of  this  land  fund,  as  a  security  for  the  Government  faith.  He 
is,  perhaps,  by  this  time  convinced  that  the  most  effectual  re 
storative  of  the  Government  credit  is  to  be  found  in  the  res 
toration  of  the  credit  of  the  States,  and  that  that  would  be 
best  sustained  by  the  public  lands. 

It  was  in  the  v^ery  wantonness  of  a  spirit  that  delights  in 
pain  that  this  disappointment  was  inflicted  upon  the  indebted 
States.  In  the  moment  of  our  utmost  need,  when  the  fruits 
of  this  beneficent  measure  were  just  ripening  to  our  hand,  when 
every  other  source  of  supply  had  been  drained,  our  people 
borne  down  by  grievous  burdens,  our  credit  gone,  and  every 
thing  in  our  condition  furnishing  strong  motive  to  stir  the  gen 
erosity  as  well  as  the  justice  of  the  Government,  that  Govern 
ment,  yielding  to  the  ruthless  suggestions  of  party  hostility, 
not  only  stood  aloof,  but  seemed  to  take  pleasure  in  aggrava 
ting  our  misfortunes  by  a  violation  of  its  own  faith — a  violation 
the  more  wanton,  because  it  brought  scarcely  less  injury  upon 
the  Union  than  it  did  upon  us.  The  Government  now  disa 
vows  a  compact  which,  in  the  gravest  forms  of  legislation,  it 
had  heretofore  acknowledged ;  it  repudiates  a  principle  of  ad 
ministration,  in  regard  to  the  public  lands,  which  it  had  but  a 
short  time  ago  proclaimed  as  of  the  highest  concern  ;  and  it 
denies  to  the  States  the  principal  fund  upon  the  expectation 
of  which  they  had,  in  many  instances,  contracted  their  debts 


276  POLITICAL    TAPERS. 

And  upon  what  pretext  ?  The  temporary  wants  of  the  Treas 
ury  !  As  if  the  casual  deficiencies  of  the  Treasury — the  off 
spring  only  of  careless  administration — could  excuse  an  act 
of  flagrant  injustice  !  But  they  tell  us,  as  if  that  were  some 
unusual  misfortune,  that  if  they  distribute  the  proceeds  of  the 
lands,  the  amount  must  be  reimbursed  by  duties  !  We  may  tell 
them, .that  when  they  refuse  to  give  us  what  belongs  to  us,  they 
compel  us  to  supply  the  amount,  not  by  duties  (that  privilege 
we  have  not),  but  only  by  taxes — by  taxation  added  to  taxation, 
already  heaped  up  to  the  full  measure  of  our  strength.  Four 
millions  of  annual  proceeds  from  the  lands — and  this  is  below 
the  average  of  ten  years  past — would  give  to  Maryland  nearly 
one  hundred  and  twenty  thousand  dollars  a  year.  This  sum, 
applied  on  the  principle  of  a  sinking  fund,  would  alone  extin 
guish  two-thirds  of  our  debt  in  twenty-five  years  ;  aided,  as  we 
might  hope  it  would  be,  by  the  avails  of  our  public  works,  we 
should  soon  begin  to  feel  that  our  credit  and  resources  were 
adequate  to  every  demand.  This  is  a  small  matter  to  the 
Union  ;  it  is  a  great  matter  to  the  States.  We  may  again 
express  our  surprise  that  there  is  a  man  in  Maryland  so  infat 
uated  by  his  party,  so  servile  to  its  commands,  so  false  to  his 
State  as  to  encourage,  by  his  vote  or  voice,  the  Government 
in  this  vindictive  wrong  of  withholding  from  us  our  share  in  the 
lands. 

I  have  dwelt  longer  on  this  topic  than  I  intended.  I  re 
turn  to  the  more  direct  question  of  the  tariff. 

I  think  we  may  take  it  for  granted — however  agreeable 
this  theory  of  direct  taxation  may  be  to  that  part  of  the  nation 
which,  somewhat  whimsically,  sets  up  to  be  the  only  democracy 
— the  Government  is  not  yet  prepared  finally  to  renounce  the 
duty  system.  The  only  question,  then,  is,  what  kind  of  a 
tariff  shall  be  permanently  established  ?  Shall  it  be  protective, 
or,  on  the  other  hand,  shall  it  be  what  some  leading  politicians 
have  denominated  a  horizontal  tariff?  That  is,  shall  the 
duties  be  laid  at  various  rates,  having  regard  to  the  occupa 
tions  of  our  citizens,  and  intended  to  protect  them  ;  or  shall 


THE    PROTECTIVE    SYSTEM.  277 

they  be  brought,  as  nearly  as  the  mere  interests  of  revenue 
may  suggest,  to  a  uniform  and  equal  standard  upon  the  several 
imports  ? 

This  is  a  great  question,  and  has  greatly  agitated  the  coun 
try.  It  has  been  often  discussed,  but  never  under  the  same 
embarrassments  as  at  the  present  period.  I  regard  it  as  no 
less  than  vital  to  the  great  majority  of  the  interests  of  the  peo 
ple.  Widespread  ruin  may  be  the  consequence  of  a  mistake — 
ruin,  in  my  apprehension,  equally  upon  the  North  and  South. 

After  the  adoption  of  the  compromise,  in  1833,  most  per 
sons  thought  that  the  question  of  the  constitutional  power  of 
Congress  to  pass  a  tariff  of  protection  was  put  at  rest.  That 
celebrated  bill,  sustained  as  it  was  by  the  Southern  vote,  dis 
tinctly  recognized  the  power  to  discriminate  in  duties  for  pur 
poses  of  protection.  In  proof  of  ;his,  it  contained  a  clause  ex 
empting  certain  raw  materials,  dye-stuffs  and  others,  from  du 
ties  altogether — its  object  being  to  furnish  that  degree  of  en 
couragement  and  protection  to  domestic  industry.  Now,  this 
exemption  of  one  article  from  duty  creates  a  necessity  to  in 
crease  the  duties  on  all  other  articles,  when  it  is  requisite  to 
raise  a  given  amount  of  revenue.  This  discrimination  was  re 
garded  at  the  time  as  a  concession  of  a  power  of  protection. 

The  South,  however,  and  some  of  their  new  allies  in  the 
North,  have  again  started  the  constitutional  question.  I  hold 
that  any  disputant  who  can  at  this  day  treat  this  as  an  open 
question  ought  to  be  considered  as  hopelessly  beyond  the 
reach  of  conviction  ;  for  if  this  point  be  not  settled,  then  noth 
ing  is  settled  in  our  frame  of  Government.  Protection  may 
be  said  to  be  the  eldest  born  of  the  Constitution.  It  once  be 
longed  to  the  States.  They  surrendered  it  to  the  Union — not 
to  be  abrogated,  but  to  be  clothed  with  fresh  vigor  ;  and  it  was 
among  the  first  and  most  important  of  the  powers  regenerated 
in  the  Constitution.  It  has-been  exercised  from  the  first  year 
of  the  present  Government  continually  down  to  this,  the  last. 
It  has  been  advocated,  in  turn,  by  every  State  in  the  Union,  as 
often  as  any  fancied  present  interest  has  brought  it  into  view  ; 


278  POLITICAL    PAPERS. 

it  has  never  been  opposed  by  any  State,  except  under  the 
prompting  of  some  such  fancied  present  interest ;  and  it  has  at 
all  times  been  maintained  by  Congress,  the  supreme  Judiciary, 
and  by  a  large  majority  of  the  States  and  people.  A  principle 
resting  upon  such  a  basis  may  surely  be  affirmed  to  be  estab 
lished. 

Without  designing,  therefore,  to  argue  this  settled  point,  I 
think  it  worth  while  to  advert  to  the  various  and  contradictory 
positions  which  the  enemies  of  a  protective  tariff  have  assumed 
in  relation  to  this  power. 

The  opponents  are  ranged  in  three  classes. 

The  first  class  appear  to  me  to  be  the  only  really  consist 
ent  logicians  among  them.  They  constitute  that  inveterate 
and  uncompromising  school  of  disputants  who  go  against  pro 
tection  because  it  is  protection.  They  affirm  that,  as  Congress 
can  only  lay  duties  for  revenue,  it  cannot  contrive  them  to  suit 
any  other  purpose,  and  therefore  cannot  adapt  them  to  protec 
tion.  They  even  say  that  Congress  is  bound  to  discriminate  in 
a  revenue  bill,  so  as  to  avoid  protection.  A  highly  respectable 
gentleman  (Mr.  Rhett)  of  this  school,  from  South  Carolina, 
acting  manfully  up  to  his  professions,  offered,  at  the  late  ses 
sion  of  Congress,  when  the  question  was  upon  the  reference  of 
a  part  of  the  President's  message  to  the  Committee  on  Manu 
factures,  the  following  instructions  to  the  committee,  as  an 
amendment  to  the  original  resolution  :  "  That  should  it  be,  in 
their  opinion,  expedient  to  lay  additional  duties,  they  shall  be 
so  laid  as  not  to  discriminate  in  favor  of  any  particular  class  of 
industry  in  the  United  States"  I  cite  this  proceeding  because 
it  presents  a  very  striking  fact.  It  illustrates  the  ultraism  of 
the  school ;  is  an  exemplification  of  their  doctrine  ;  is  alto 
gether  new  ;  for  it  was  not  so  even  in  the  palmy  days  of  Nul 
lification.  The  author  of  these  instructions  was  a  distinguished 
Nullifier  in  those  days,  partook  of  the  quarrel,  wrote  State  pa 
pers  upon  these  matters,  but  did  not  go  so  far  then  as  now. 

To  lay  duties  which  shall  not  discriminate  "  in  favor  of  any 
particular  class  of  industry  in  the  United  States"  would  require 


THE    PROTECTIVE    SYSTEM.  279 

great  skill  in  a  committee,  because  it  could  hardly  fall  out  but 
that  most  duties  would  accidentally  protect  some  branch  of  in 
dustry.  Perhaps  such  an  unhappy  catastrophe  might  be 
averted  by  confining  the  duties  to  every  thing  we  did  not  man 
ufacture  at  home,  especially  to  all  raw  materials  necessary  to 
our  arts,  and  by  making  every  thing  free  which  we  did  manu 
facture.  Even  this  plan  would  protect  something — a  duty  on 
silks,  for  instance,  would  protect  the  cotton  manufacture  to 
some  extent — but  still  it  would  be  an  approximation,  and 
would  furnish  a  tolerably  good  summary  rule  by  which,  in  prac 
tice,  we  might,  in  some  degree  (all  human  contrivances  are  im 
perfect),  avoid  the  evil  consequences  of  favoring  "  any  partic 
ular  class  of  industry  in  the  United  States."  It  would  cer 
tainly  promote,  with  very  decided  effect,  the  alternative  which 
constitutes  a  significant  object  in  the  anti-tariff  policy — that 
of  protecting  the  industry  which  does  not  belong  to  the  United 
States. ' 

The  next  class  of  opponents  are  much  more  formidable 
than  the  first,  because  they  may  be  said  to  lie  in  ambush,  and 
make  their  assaults  upon  the  protective  system  sometimes  in 
the  guise  of  friends.  They  profess  an  equally  fixed  aversion 
to  protection  as  a  primary  purpose,  but  are  willing  to  tolerate 
it  if  it  should  result  accidentally  from  duties  laid  for  revenue  ; 
as  the  phrase  is,  they  are  willing  to  admit  incidental  protection. 

Now,  what  protection  is  incidental,  is,  from  its  indefinite 
nature,  the  most  uncertain  of  problems.  It  means  any  thing 
or  nothing.  It  is  a  convenient  term  of  mystification.  Like 
"  the  judicious  tariff"  of  old  times,  it  comprehends  every  com 
plexion  of  opinion.  Mr.  Calhoun  is,  or  at  least  was,  an  inci- 
dentalist ;  so  is  Mr.  Buchanan  ;  so  is  every  politician  who  has 
a  motive  to  keep  on  a  good  footing  with  both  ends  of  the 
Union.  To  this  school  every  man  may  belong  who  finds  his 
account  in  voting  for  a  tariff  to-day,  and  against  it  to-morrow. 
There  is  nothing  to  prevent  one  of  these  gentlemen,  who  rep 
resents  a  manufacturing  district  in  New  York,  from  going  into 
a  Congressional  caucus  with  the  most  fall-blooded  anti-tariff 


280  POLITICAL    PAPERS. 

man  of  Mississippi.  The  leading  doctrine  of  the  strict  con- 
structionist  is,  that  Congress  can  impose  no  duties  except  for 
revenue.  The  incidentalist  assents  to  this,  but  affirms  that,  in 
laying  the  duty  for  revenue,  Congress  may  make  it  a  little 
higher  for  protection.  How  much  higher  is  a  matter  of  doubt, 
and  upon  this  point  every  incidentalist  fixes  his  own  standard 
— the  Pennsylvanian  a  hundred  per  cent ,  the  Georgian  not 
above  twenty  ;  one  up  to  prohibition,  the  other  not  even  up  to 
the  lowest  mark  of  protection.  It  would  seem  to  be  but  a  ra 
tional  deduction,  indeed  a  mere  truism,  to  say  that,  if  duties 
can  only  be  laid  for  revenue,  they  cannot,  in  any  wise,  be  laid 
for  protection.  As  a  groundwork  for  a  practical  constitutional 
distinction,  this  incidental  doctrine  sounds  very  much  like  an 
imposition  on  the  good  nature  of  the  public  ;  it  is  an  absurd 
ity.  For  fourteen  years  past  ready-made  clothing  has  had  a 
duty  of  fifty  per  cent. ;  certain  descriptions  of  shoes  and  boots 
have  had  more.  These  were  not  revenue  duties  ;  they  were, 
in  reference  to  most  cases,  prohibitions.  What  do  the  inci- 
dentalists  say  to  ready-made  clothing  and  shoes?  Are  these 
duties  unconstitutional  ?  I  want  to  know  if  the  tailors  and 
shoemakers  of  the  United  States  are  willing  to  stand  on  this 
narrow  platform  of  incidental  protection,  and  rest  the  success 
of  their  business  upon  their  being  able  to  prove  that  the  duties 
in  their  favor  are  bonafide  the  best  for  revenue. 

Then,  it  may  be  also  remarked,  the  incidental  theory 
allows  some  articles  to  be  made  free  ;  it  adjusts  the  duties,  some 
at  lower  rates,  some  at  higher — one  class  being  made  high,  in 
order  to  compensate  in  revenue  for  those  that  are  made  low. 
It  is  a  device  to  circumvent  constitutional  .scruples  by  a  trick 
of  averages — upon  this  article,  nothing  ;  upon  that,  ten  per 
cent. ;  upon  the  next,  by  way  of  making  up  the  deficiency, 
forty  per  cent.  ;  and  then  the  constitutional  doubters  are  all 
consoled  and  satisfied,  by  showing  that  the  average  is  within 
some  assumed  revenue  standard.  What  is  this  but  an  ingeni 
ous  method  of  stretching  the  blanket  of  a  political  faith  to 
cover  many  bed-fellows  ?  One  corner  shields  the  protectionist 


THE   PROTECTIVE   SYSTEM.  281 

of  New  York,  whose  party  ostensibly  goes  against  the  Tariff ; 
the  other  shelters  the  rank  free  trader  of  Alabama,  Shall  the 
cause  of  American  industry  be  intrusted  to  the  shallow 
casuistry  of  a  profession  so  full  of  inconsistency  and  variable 
ness  as  this  ? 

The  third  class  are  those  who,  denying  the  general  power  to 
enact  a  tariff  for  protection  to  manufactures,  claim  for  the 
Government  a  right  to  lay  duties  to  retaliate  against  the 
hostile  commercial  policy  of  foreign  nations  ;  in  other  words, 
to  enact  a  tariff  for  the  protection  of  commerce.  These  find 
their  support  for  the  retaliatory  duty  in  the  opinion  of  Mr. 
Jefferson.  It  would  seem  to  be  a  nice  refinement  in  constitu 
tional  doctrine  which  can  discriminate  between  a  po^ver  to 
counterveil  the  policy  of  foreign  states  in  the  outward  affairs 
of  commerce,  and  a  power  to  countervail  the  policy  of  the 
same  states  in  reference  to  the  still  more  delicate  and  valuable 
concerns  of  our  domestic  industry.  Yet  as  it  is  dangerous,  in 
these  days  of  questionable  democracy,  to  differ  from  that 
great  authority  whose  opinions  are  held  up  as  the  test  of  the 
true  faith,  many  of  the  most  obdurate  disciples  of  free  trade 
are  obliged  to  admit  the  retaliatory  power.  A  somewhat 
closer  search  would  convince  the*  same  inquirers,  if  they  had 
the  heart  to  make  it,  that  Mr.  Jefferson  was  a  very  good  friend 
of  the  protective  policy.*  His  advocacy  of  this  policy,  how 

*Mr.  Jefferson's  opinions  on  this  subject  are  altogether  unequivo 
cal.  In  a  letter  to  Benjamin  Austin,  dated  the  9th  of  January,  1816, 
after  stating  the  grounds  upon  which  he  had  formerly  entertained 
other  opinions,  and  referring  to  the  altered  circumstances  of  this 
country,  lie  says  :  "  Compare  this  state  of  things  with  that  of"  1785, 
and  say  whether  an  opinion  founded  in  the  circumstances  of  that  day 
can  be  fairly  applied  to  those  of  the  present.  We  have  experienced 
what  we  did  not  then  believe,  that  there  exist  both  profligacy  and 
power  enough  to  exclude  us  from  the  field  of  interchange  with  other 
nations.  That,  to  be  independent  for  the  comforts  of  life,  we  must 
fabricate  them  ourselves.  We  must  now  place  the  manufacturer  by 
the  side  of  the  agriculturist.  The  grand  inquiry  now  is,  Shall  wo 
make  our  own  comforts  or  go  without  them,  at  the  will  of  a  foreign 


282  POLITICAL    PAPERS. 

ever,  not  being  so  publicly  recorded  as  on  the  question  just 
alluded  to,  seems  to  be  consigned  to  the  oblivion  which  is  now 
coveted  for  other  opinions  of  some  of  our  most  distinguished 
oracles.  So  little  mixture  is  there  of  honest  judgment  in  the 
array  of  selfish  passion,  party  organization,  and  blind  zeal, 
which  have  been  pressed  into  the  enterprise  of  breaking  down 
the  prosperity  and  the  hopes  of  the  laboring  population  of  the 
United  States  ! 

These  three  modifications  of  the  constitutional  doctrine 
may  be  said  to  represent  all  the  varieties  of  opinion  which 
characterize  the  several  portions  of  the  anti-tariff  party. 
Among  these,  the  advocates  of  incidental  protection  are 
much  the  most  numerous  ;  and,  in  certain  sections  of  the 
Union,  much  the  most  liberal.  Here,  in  our  own  State,  for 
example,  we  may  observe  many  who,  but  a  short  time  ago, 
were  loudest  in  their  denunciations  of  a  protective  tariff,  but 
who  now,  having  taken  a  useful  hint  from  the  manifest  current 
of  public  opinion  in  their  neighborhood,  and  perhaps  also 
alarmed  lest  Congress  might  take  them  at  their  word  and  give 
them  free  trade  in  earnest,  have  become  quite  exemplary  pro 
tective  tariff  men,  under  the  mystical  virtue  of  this  doctrine 
of  incidentalism.  From  their  present  zeal  we  might  predict 
that  it  will  not  be  long  before  these  same  persons  will  claim 
the  merit  to  themselves  and  their  political  friends  of  having 
been  the  steadfast  defenders  of  protection  from  the  beginning ; 
and  that  they  will  even  charge  upon  us,  who  have  battled  in 
the  cause  on  many  a  field  against  them,  the  crime  of  attempt 
ing  to  usurp  from  them  the  honors  of  a  championship  exclu 
sively  their  own.  I  think  there  are  indications  already  point 
ing  that  way. 

nation  ?  He,  therefore,  who  is  now  against  domestic  manufacture, 
must  be  for  reducing  us  either  to  dependence  on  that  foreign  nation, 
or  to  be  clothed  in  skins,  and  to  live  like  wild  beasts,  in  dens  and 
caverns.  I  am  not  one  of  these.  Experience  has  taught  me  that 
manufactures  are  now  as  necessary  to  our  independence  as  to  our 
comfort."  (See  vol.  iv.,  Jefferson's  Writings,  p.  282.) 


THE   PROTECTIVE   SYSTEM.  283 

That  I  may  not  be  misunderstood,  I  will  give  my  creed 
upon  this  doctrine  of  protection.  I  am  the  friend  of  the 
system  in  its  broadest  latitude.  I  hold  not  only  to  the  right 
of  Congress,  under  the  Constitution,  to  pass  laws  for  the  direct 
purpose  of  encouraging  and  fostering  the  pursuits  of  our  own 
citizens  in  any  branch  of  industry,  but  I  go  further,  and  main 
tain  that  it  is  the  first  and  highest  duty  of  the  Government  to 
the  people  to  afford  their  pursuits  that  protection  and  support. 
I  hold  the  questions  of  revenue  and  protection  to  be  altogether 
distinct ;  that  duties  may  be  laid  expressly  for  protection,  as 
well  as  expressly  for  revenue ;  that  there  is  no  necessary  de 
pendence  between  the  two.  It  is  true  that  we  usually  blend 
revenue  and  protection — because  usually,  when  considering  a 
revenue  bill,  that  has  been  an  appropriate  occasion  to  consider 
protection.  But  I  deny  that,  in  the  structure  of  any  tariff  of 
this  Government,  the  principle  has  ever  been  assumed  that 
there  was  no  power  to  lay  a  duty  except  for  revenue.  Every 
tariff,  from  that  of  1789  down  to  the  last,  has  presented  some 
examples  of  direct  protective  duties  ;  and  one  of  the  most 
conspicuous  of  these  duties,  which  has  run  through  every 
tariff,  is  that  of  three  cents  a  pound  on  cotton,  which  has 
always  been  maintained  by  Congress,  and,  I  believe,  without 
a  dissenting  vote  from  any  anti-tariff  member  of  either  House  ; 
that  this  duty  never  was  intended  for  revenue ;  that  it  never 
produced  revenue  beyond  the  most  inconsiderable  amount ; 
and  that  it  was  designed  only  for  protection. 

In  estimating  the  comparative  value  of  revenue  and  pro 
tection,  I  differ  from  many  persons,  when  I  rank  protection 
first,  and  revenue  as  subordinate.  Revenue  is  but  a  necessary 
evil ;  protection  a  positive  good.  With  this  devil  money  we 
conjure  away  worse  devils,  and  therefore  we  pursue  it  ;  but 
with  this  charitable  and  beneficent  spirit,  protection,  we  en 
gender  a  thousand  blessings,  and  spread  universal  content  and 
joy  through  all  the  walks  of  healthful  toil. 

Although  it  may  be  said,  in  reference  to  some  of  the  de 
tails  of  a  tariff  law,  that  revenue  and  protection  are  incom- 


284  POLITICAL   PAPERS. 

patible,  and  that  where  one  begins  the  other  ends,  yet  this  is 
not  always  true — not  even  true  in  the  greater  number  of  cases. 
The  fact  is  full  of  varieties.     A  high  duty  may  be  laid  upon 
some  luxuries,  which,  being  freely  used  by  the  rich,  will  afford 
a  large  revenue,  and  yet,  at  the  same  time,  will  substantially 
protect  valuable  portions  of  the  domestic  labor  of  the  country. 
This  is  true  of  silks,  of  linens,  and  of  worsted  goods.     The 
increased  price  is  cheerfully  paid  by  the  rich,  while  it  at  the 
same    time    encourages    the    manufacture   of    those   cheaper 
printed  and  plain  goods  of  cotton  which  supply  the  same  uses. 
The  course  of  trade,  in  such  cases,  gradually  tends  towards  a 
division,  which  restrains  the  foreign  importation  to  the  finer 
goods  of  silk,  linen,  and  worsted,  the  quantity  of  which  is  in 
creased  ;  and  employs  the  home  manufacturer  in  the  exten 
sion  and  improvement  of  the   cotton   fabrics.     Then,  again, 
there  are  commodities  which  having  neither  a  likeness  nor  a 
substitute  among  our  own  productions,  the  duty  upon  them  is 
merely  one  of  revenue.     Of   these,  tea  and  coffee,  tropical 
fruit  and  spices,  certain  dye-stuffs  and  drugs,  are  examples. 
Then,  there  are  articles  upon  which  revenue  declines  exactly 
in  proportion  as  protection  advances  ;  and  these  contending 
principles   divide  the  advantage   between  them.       Such   are 
cotton   and  woollen  goods,  iron    and  glass  ware,  and   some 
others  ;  in   reference  to  which,  the  antagonism  between  the 
duty  for  revenue  and  the  duty  for  protection  generally  settles 
the   matter,  by  yielding  up  the  manufacture   of  the  coarser 
quality  to  our  domestic  workmen,  and  delivering  the  finer  to 
the   foreign    trade.      Besides    these,  there    are    duties  which 
are  neither  more   nor  less    than  virtual  prohibition.     These 
may    be    found    including    many    chemical    substances    and 
the  products  of  many  handicrafts — such  as  certain  kinds  of 
clothing,  hats,  and  shoes,  and  also   many  articles  of  coarse 
texture,  the  product  of  machinery. 

Among  all  these  varieties  of  subjects  soliciting  the  attention 
and  care  of  the  Government,  the  great  and  interesting  problem 
is  how  to  arrange  the  duties  so  as  to  secure  the  revenue  we 


THE    PROTECTIVE    SYSTEM.  285 

want,  compatibly  with  the  protection  we  want.  This  under 
taking  has  difficulties  enough  of  its  own,  without  persuading  us 
to  superadd  those  absurd  refinements  of  constitutional  sophis 
try  by  which  protection  and  revenue  may  be  blended  in  the 
fanciful  relations  of  incident  and  principal.  The  simplest,  the 
most  direct,  and  most  effective,  and  therefore  the  most  sensible 
mode  of  disposing  of  this  task,  is  to  consider  the  questions  of 
revenue  and  protection  each  on  their  own  appropriate  grounds, 
and  to  adapt  our  legislation  to  the  plainest  mode  of  evolving 
each. 

We  once  had  a  revenue  of  upwards  of  twenty-five  millions 
from  the  sales  of  the  public  lands.  If  that  had  been  a  perma 
nent  income,  and  the  Government  were  thus  provided  with 
the  means  of  defraying  its  annual  expenditure,  without  the  aid 
of  any  impost  whatever,  the  obligation  to  lay  duties  for  the  pro 
tection  of  our  commerce  and  our  domestic  industry  would,  in 
my  view  of  it,  be  no  less  urgent  than  it  is  now.  The  working 
classes  of  the  nation  would  then,  as  imperiously  as  now,  demand 
of  the  Government  the  restraint  of  foreign  importation,  where  it 
interfered  with  their  pursuits  at  home,  by  such  impediments,  in 
the  nature  of  duties  and  prohibitions,  as  might  be  sufficient  for 
that  end.  This  is  a  necessary  power,  belonging  to  all  Govern 
ments,  without  which  they  cannot  exist  in  any  condition  of  perma 
nent  prosperity  ;  and  I  think  I  may  challenge  the  opponents  of 
this  doctrine  to  produce,  by  a  research  through  the  whole  histo 
ry  of  human  society,  a  single  example  of  a  Government  that  has 
existed  without  such  a  power.  Under  our  own  Constitution  we 
have  never  been  at  a  loss  to  find  power,  when  policy  required 
its  exercise,  to  establish  very  broad  and  sweeping  prohibi 
tions  upon  imports  from  foreign  States.  We  have  sometimes 
added  to  all  other  duties  two  dollars  a  ton  upon  merchandise 
imported  in  the  vessels  of  particular  nations ;  sometimes  we 
have  laid  an  embargo — a  flat  prohibition  upon  all  importations 
from  a  foreign  state;  sometimes,  as  in  1818  and  1820,  we 
have  forbidden  all  imports  from  certain  colonial  dependencies  ; 
and  even  in  the  late  tariff  act  there  is  a  direct  prohibition 


286  POLITICAL   PAPERS. 

against  the  importation  of  obscene  prints.  Who  questions  the 
constitutionality  of  this  kind  of  legislation  ?  It  is  justified  by 
that  clause  which  authorizes  Congress  to  regulate  commerce 
— a  wise,  effective,  and  just  exercise  of  power  ;  but  let  any  one 
explain  how  more  wise,  effective,  or  just,  or  more  within  the 
scope  of  a  general  power  to  regulate  commerce,  than  the  ad 
justment  by  law  of  the  terms  and  conditions  upon  which  for 
eign  fabrics  may  be  permitted  to  be  imported,  when  the  design 
of  restraining  them  is  either  to  give  a  special  scope  to  our  own 
foreign  commerce,  or  a  broader  expansion  to  our  domestic,  by 
encouraging  the  enterprise  of  our  citizens  in  a  field  where  we 
know  that  it  will  promote  both  national  and  individual  wealth. 

I  have  heard  it  said,  by  the  advocates  of  one  side  of  this 
question,  that  every  duty  laid  upon  a  foreign  product  is  a  tax 
upon  the  consumer  of  that  product  to  the  amount  of  the  duty. 
I  have  heard  it  contended,  on-  the  other  side,  that  when  a  for 
eign  product  is  shut  out  from  our  market,  or  diminished  in 
quantity,  by  the  increase  of  duty  upon  it,  the  similar  product 
in  our  country,  being  protected  by  this  legislation,  becomes 
the  subject  of  a  vigorous  domestic  competition,  which  has  the 
effect  to  diminish  the  price,  even,  in  some  cases,  below  the 
former  cost  of  the  imported  article.  There  is  something  to  be 
said  in  favor  of  both  of  these  propositions.  In  particular  cir 
cumstances,  they  are  perhaps  both  true ;  and,  in  the  great 
majority  of  cases,  I  have  no  doubt  that  both  of  these  effects 
are  partially  developed  and  combined ;  that  is,  that  the  duty 
somewhat  increases  the  price,  and  that  the  domestic  competi 
tion  somewhat  lessens  it ;  the  result  being  a  medium,  produced 
by  these  opposite  forces. 

But  I  do  not  advocate  the  protective  policy  primarily  be 
cause  domestic  competition  reduces  the  price.  I  desire  to  lay 
no  great  stress  on  this  advantage,  although,  undoubtedly,  it  is 
one  worthy  of  high  consideration.  Incomparably  above  it  is 
that  sentiment  of  national  independence  which  the  protective 
system  nurses  in  the  bosoms  of  the  people,  by  the  conviction 
— the  influence  of  which  is  almost  inappreciable — that  it  se- 


THE    PROTECTIVE    SYSTEM.  287 

cures  to  them,  through  all  vicissitudes  of  national  fortune,  the 
possession  of  their  own  home  market.  It  teaches  every  Amer 
ican  citizen  that  the  supply  of  his  own  country,  with  whatever 
commodity  his  skill  or  industry  is  capable  of  producing,  is  his 
peculium,  as  long  as  he  is  able  to  gratify  the  demand.  I  am 
not  given  to  underrate  the  value  of  foreign  commerce.  No 
one  can  be  disposed  to  cherish  that  interest  more  than  my 
self;  but  I  think  it  of  the  highest  importance  that  the  nation 
should  be  duly  sensible  of  the  vastly  more  engrossing  value 
of  our  home  trade.  I  have  no  space  to  go  into  detail  upon 
this  question.  You  may  examine  for  yourselves.  I  would  in 
vite  you  to  inquire  into  the  aggregate  of  annual  production, 
amounting  to  some  twelve  hundred  millions ;  follow  the  dis 
tribution  of  that  among  seventeen  millions  of  people  ;  contem 
plate  the  capital  employed  in  this  production  ;  the  roads,  ca 
nals,  steam  power,  shipping,  and  machinery,  constructed  to 
circulate  it  over  and  around  our  territory,  by  land,  by  lake  and 
river,  and  by  sea ;  the  number  of  persons  actively  engaged  in 
these  various  occupations  of  creating,  of  factorage,  exchange, 
and  transport ;  and  then  compare  the  results  of  these  investiga 
tions  with  all  the  similar  material  and  equipage,  the  persons, 
the  capital,  and  the  occupations  which  compose  the  elements 
and  the  business  of  foreign  trade. 

I  am  sure  that  such  a  comparison,  fairly  made,  will  con 
vince  every  man  that  the  domestic  commerce  of  our  country 
is  tenfold  more  valuable  than  our  foreign — tenfold  at  this 
day ;  and  the  time  will,  come,  if  we  be  true  to  ourselves,  when 
it  must  be  enlarged  greatly  beyond  that  proportion.  In  the 
present  state  of  the  world,  the  domestic  commerce  of  nations 
is  tending  towards  increase,  the  foreign  towards  decline.  Now, 
for  the  first  time,  perhaps,  in  the  history  of  our  species,  is  man 
kind  witnessing  the  great  competition  of  highly  civilized  commu 
nities  in  the  arts  of  peace.  War  has  been  banished,  for  more  than 
a  quarter  of  a  century,  from  the  master  states  of  the  globe — states 
possessing  similar  climates,  equal  facilities  of  production,  equal 
arts,  and  equal  wants.  Human  skill  has  been  trained  to  its 


288  POLITICAL    PAPERS. 

utmost  perfection  among  these  rival  communities,  to  produce 
a  supply  of  the  same  commodities.  Where  is  there  a  founda 
tion  for  commerce  between  them  ?  What  commerce  can  sub 
sist  between  two  nations  which  each  cultivate  the  same  prod 
ucts,  fabricate  the  same  manufactures,  and  have  the  same  ne 
cessities  ?  France,  Prussia,  Austria  and  the  rest  of  the  Ger 
man  States,  Belgium,  Russia  England  —  all  cultivate  grain, 
weave  cloth,  manufacture  iron.  How  shall  they  exchange  with 
each  other — during  this  long  peace,  when  the  productive  power 
of  each  is  strained  to  its  utmost  capacity — their  grain,  their 
cloth,  or  their  iron  ?  We  also  enter  into  this  competition.  Like 
them,  we  cultivate  grain,  weave  cloth,  and  work  iron.  We 
have  some  products,  however,  which  they  have  not — chiefly 
cotton  and  tobacco.  In  every  thing  but  these  we  are  rival  pro 
ducers  with  themselves  ;  and  even  in  regard  to  these,  the  depen 
dencies  of  some  of  these  Powers  may  be  soon  brought  to  be  our 
competitors.  What  have  we,  then,  for  mutual  commerce  with 
those  countries  ?  Certainly  not  grain,  nor  cloth,  nor  iron  ;  but 
only  cotton  and  tobacco.  I  do  not  take  into  the  account  some 
minor  staples  of  trade  of  small  amount  and  precarious  demand  ; 
nor  do  I  reckon  that  existing,  and  I  may  call  it  accidental, 
state  of  things  which  is  now  stimulating  a  trade,  on  our  part, 
in  breadstuffs  and  provisions,  with  Great  Britain  and  her  de 
pendencies,  through  her  North  American  possessions.  I  speak 
in  reference  only  to  certain  and  permanent  sources  of  trade. 
Commerce  cannot  increase  between  us  and  these  European 
nations,  nor  between  these  nations  themselves,  while  this  uni 
versal  peace  whets  the  desire  and  quickens  the  skill  to  produce 
the  necessaries  and  luxuries  which  each  demands  at  home.  So 
far  as  some  sixty  or  seventy  millions  of  dollars  worth  of  cotton 
and  tobacco  continue  to  be  demanded  from  the  United  States 
— and  how  long  that  demand  may  continue,  every  one  must 
acknowledge  to  be,  at  least,  an  anxious  problem  to  our  plant 
ers — \ve  may  count  upon  an  established  commerce  with  Europe  ; 
but  beyond  that  all  is  uncertain,  fluctuating,  and  dependent 
upon  the  accidents  of  the  day.  If  grain  and  provisions,  if  coal 


THE    PROTECTIVE    SYSTEM.  280 

and  iron,  if  timber,  if  wool,  if  flax  or  hemp,  if  metals  of  any 
kind,  were  in  demand  by  Europe,  we  have  three  Western  States 
alone — to  say  nothing  of  a  dozen  others — that  have  capacity 
to  feed  and  clothe,  to  shelter  and  supply  half  the  population  of 
that  quarter  of  the  world.  With  some  few  and  unimportant  ex 
ceptions,  all  these  commodities  are  shut  out  from  our  com 
merce  by  the  careful  policy  of  those  nations  who'  have  not  yet 
been  able  to  see  the  advantage  of  taking  from  us  what  their  own 
dominions  and  people  are  capable  of  producing.  This  is  their 
policy,  notwithstanding  that  general  consent  of  all  enlightened 
societies,  of  which  we  have  often  heard,  to  discard  the  errors  of 
protection,  and  adopt  the  wisdom  of  free  trade. 

Upon  what,  then,  is  commerce  hereafter  to  subsist  ?  I  an 
swer,  chiefly  on  the  intercourse  between  nations  of  dissimilar 
products  and  widely  varying  climes.  They  who  are  born  to 
temperate  skies  and  fertile  lands,  with  all  this  marvellous  power 
of  machinery,  may  find  a  range  for  their  enterprise  in  the  trop 
ics,  and  among  those  nations  of  the  New  World  and  of  the 
Old,  and  of  those  Southern  and  Pacific  seas,  whose  awakening 
perception  to  European  and  American  luxuries,  and  appetite 
to  possess  them,  may  render  our  trade  an  object  of  desire.  It 
must  eventually  come  to  that ;  the  skilful  nations  will  seek  their 
commerce  with  the  unskilful ;  art  will  exchange  its  products 
for  the  rarer  bounties  of  nature. 

It  is  worth  inquiring  what,  in  traversing  this  field,  are  our 
chances  ?  We  shall  find  in  every  sea,  and  under  every  sun,  the 
vast  colonial  domain  of  England  at  this  time  occupying,  in  greater 
extent  than  any  other  nation,  the  choicest  spots  upon  the  map  of 
the  globe — a  domain  carefully  locked  against  us  and  every  com 
petitor.  That  sagacious  Power  foreseeing  that  commerce  could 
not  long  subsist  between  equal  nations,  has,  in  time  past,  laid 
the  foundations  of  her  marvellous  dominion  and  established  her 
inviolable  system  of  trade,  by  which  come  what  may,  she  has 
secured  a  perpetuity  of  commercial  monopoly  for  her  own  peo 
ple.  Even  now  actively  pursuing  that  grand  thought,  she  is 
busily  stripping  us  of  every  portion  of  our  commerce  that  she 
13 


290  POLITICAL    PAPERS. 

can  bring  within  reach  of  her  policy.  By  establishing  entre 
pots  around  us,  wherever  her  colonial  possessions  will  allow 
her,  and  rigidly  maintaining  the  restrictions  and  prohibitions 
of  her  navigation  act,  she  is  quietly  and  peaceably  withdraw 
ing  our  flag  from  the  ocean,  and  substituting  her  own,  in  the 
carnage  of  our  products.  When  this  system  of  trade  is  ma 
tured,  and  those  colonies  of  the  Indian  and  Pacific  oceans  are 
filled  up  with  inhabitants  ;  when  England,  by  new  treaties  with 
South  American  and  African  States,  and  by  conquests  in  Asia, 
shall  have  enlarged  and  fortified  her  circle  of  commerce,  where, 
I  ask,  are  the  United  States,  where  Germany,  France,  Russia, 
where  is  any  other  power  of  Europe,  to  find  employment  for 
their  keels,  beyond  that  modicum  which  English  ambition  or 
English  policy  may  leave  to  their  occupation  ?  We  shall  find, 
as  other  nations  shall  (if  it  is  not  already  discovered),  that 
our  prosperity  and  theirs  will  be  best  consulted  in  adopting 
those  countervailing  measures  which  shall  secure  to  us  and  to 
them  what,  at  last,  is  better  than  all  foreign  trade,  the  undispu 
ted  possession  of  our  home  markets.  The  Zoll  Verein  or  cus 
toms  Union  of  Germany  owes  its  origin  to  the  due  apprecia 
tion  of  this  truth  ;  and  by  establishing  large  circles  of  interna 
tional  trade  on  the  continent  of  Europe,  and  guarding  them 
against  British  competition,  the  German  States,  France,  and 
Russia,  are  now  enjoying  benefits  through  a  policy  which  the 
British  philosophy  of  free  trade  affects  to  deride,  but  which 
there  is  not  a  British  statesman  who  does  not  acknowledge  to 
be  wise  and  patriotic  by  the  very  solicitude  he  shows  to  have 
it  changed. 

Who  can  compute  at  this  day  what  is  ultimately  to  be  the 
value  of  our  home  market  ?  I  have  said  that  our  home  trade 
is  now  tenfold  more  valuable  than  our  foreign.  There  was  a 
time,  in  the  earlier  days  of  our  republic,  when  our  foreign  trade 
was  perhaps  the  most  valuable  of  the  two — when  the  universal 
wars  of  Europe  gave  us  the  commercial  harvest  of  the  world. 
That  period  has  passed  by  ;  and,  as  we  have  grown  older,  our 
internal  traffic  has  daily  advanced  towards  its  present  prepon- 


THE    PROTECTIVE    SYSTEM.  291 

derance.  That  preponderance  will  continue  to  increase  through 
centuries.  When,  instead  of  seventeen  millions  of  people,  this 
land  shall  nourish  one  hundred  millions,  with  all  their  facul 
ties  and  all  their  wants,  what  comparative  estimate  shall  we 
make  between  the  commerce  that  plies  at  home  and  that  which 
seeks  its  gains  abroad  ?  When  our  coasting  tonnage  shall  num 
ber  eight  and  ten  millions  of  tons  ;  when  railroads  and  canals 
shall  be  almost  immeasurable  ;  when  cities  shall  lie  as  thickly 
along  our  three  thousand  miles  of  lake  and  our  two  thousand 
miles  of  sea-coast,  as  they  now  stud  the  shores  of  Europe ;  when 
the  characteristic  ingenuity  of  our  countrymen  shall  have  turn 
ed  all  their  power  of  water,  of  steam,  and  of  machinery,  to  their 
full  account ;  when  the  solitudes  of  the  far  West  shall  be  con 
verted  into  luxuriant  fields,  and  every  valley  shall  contribute 
its  multitude  of  consumers,  asking  for  the  richest  products  of 
art,  who  will  think  of  measuring  the  value  of  this  vast  home 
market  with  all  that  the  rest  of  the  globe  can  bring  into  com 
petition  with  it  ?  Look  at  Europe  as  it  is,  with  all  its  refine 
ment,  its  wants,  and  its  power  of  supplying  them  ;  fancy  that 
immense  association  of  inhabitants  brought  within  the  domin 
ion  of  one  government,  enjoying  equal  laws  and  common  priv 
ileges,  exempt  from  war,  and  fortified  by  a  common  inviolabil 
ity  of  property,  and  you  may  then  form  some  idea  of  what  the 
United  States  may  be  under  a  wise  and  steady  adherence  to 
that  policy  which  directs  all  its  vigor  to  the  continual  develop 
ment  of  our  native  resources  and  the  persevering  protection  of 
our  domestic  industry.  That  policy  we  began  with  our  govern 
ment  :  let  us  not  depart  from  it  now.  I  wish  this  American 
field  preserved  for  the  American  workman,  as  long  as  there  is 
one  to  be  found  who  can  supply  the  country  with  a  necessary 
or  a  luxury  of  life.  After  he  is  served,  then  let  in  the  foreign 
product ;  but  to  our  own  artisan  be  the  first  fruits. 

I  will  not  ask  what  is  the  cost  of  maintaining  this  policy.  It  is 
not  to  be  measured  by  the  arithmetic  of  money.  I  will  not  con 
sent  that  it  shall  be  determined  by  asking  the  question  whether 
the  foreign  workman  labors  for  lower  wages  than  our  own. 


292  POLITICAL    PAPERS. 

The  independence  and  the  comfort  of  the  United  States  shall 
never  be  weighed,  in  ray  mind,  against  the  cheap  attainment 
of  luxuries.  High  wages  are  the  peculiar  blessing  of  our 
country.  It  is  through  high  wages  that  we  make  the  laboring 
man  a  partner  in  the  gains  of  the  rich.  They  are  the  princi 
pal  ingredient  of  that  American  system  of  which  the  scope 
and  end  are  to  secure  the  physical  comfort  of  the  working 
man,  by  affording  him  a  full  remuneration  for  his  toil ;  yield 
ing  him  time  for  mental  and  moral  improvement,  by  which  he 
shall  be  progressively  lifted  up  into  a  higher  scale  of  social 
respectability  and  usefulness  ;  and  identifying  him  with  the 
prosperity  and  happiness  of  the  nation,  by  causing  him  to  feel 
that  in  promoting  that  prosperity  he  promotes  his  own.  I  do 
not  wish  to  see  his  gains  diluted  or  adulterated  by  the  cheap 
labor  of  Europe.  Our  system  is  entirely  different  from  that 
of  the  Old  World.  The  working  man  here  belongs  to  a  body 
which  constitutes  nine-tenths  of  the  nation — it  is  in  fact  the 
nation  itself;  and  our  policy,  unlike  that  of  the  Old  World,  is 
to  make  this  interest  paramount  to  all  others  ;  not  subordinate 
to  any  other  class  in  the  State.  Thus,  our  American  system 
becomes  the  only  true  and  really  democratic  system  of  admin 
istration  in  the  economy  of  our  Government. 

I  have  heard  and  read  a  great  deal  of  argument  employed 
by  particular  interests  here  at  home,  and  by  the  persevering 
champions  of  free  trade  abroad,  to  persuade  us  that  we  should 
open  our  ports  to  the  unlimited  introduction  of  foreign  prod 
ucts — and  this  from  nations  who  have  studiously  excluded, 
or  encumbered  with  enormous  duties,  every  American  com 
modity  but  such  as  they  could  not  obtain  from  any  other  re 
gion  of  the  globe  ?  The  general  drift  of  that  argument  has 
been,  that  Government  should  not  interfere  with  the  pursuits 
of  the  people  ;  that  the  United  States  are  an  agricultural  and 
commercial  people,  and  ought  not  to  think  of  making  that  for 
themselves  which  other  countries  can  make  cheaper ;  that 
every  duty  upon  a  foreign  commodity  is  a  tax  of  that  amount 
upon  the  consumer  ;  that,  for  the  sake  of  protecting  an  Ameri- 


THE    PROTECTIVE    SYSTEM.  293 

can  fabric,  we  levy  a  tax  for  the  public  treasury,  and  five  or 
six  times  the  amount  of  the  tax  for  the  benefit  of  the  manu 
facturer  ;  and,  even  from  the  same  advocates  who  have  uttered 
these  dogmas,  I  have  heard  it  said  that  our  manufactures  were 
capable  of  competing  with  all  the  world,  without  the  protec 
tion  of  Government — a  position  which,  if  true,  is  a  full  answer 
to  all  the  others.  I  deny  each  and  all  of  these  assumptions. 
So  far  from  it  being  the  duty  of  Government  to  abstain  from 
interfering  with  the  avocations  of  the  people,  it  is  obvious 
that  when  the  policy  of  other  nations  bears  upon  and  con 
strains  the  pursuits  of  our  citizens,  the  only  mode  by  which  we 
can  give  'them  free  choice  to  pursue  that  calling  for  which 
their  talents  qualify  them  is  by  resisting  this  pressure  from 
abroad,  and  leaving  the  domestic  industry  an  uncontrolled 
range  over  the  whole  expanse  of  our  wants.  If  the  cheap 
goods  of  England  are  to  find  free  admission  into  our  use, 
what  choice  of  a  calling  in  life  do  we  leave  to  our  working 
man  ?  Can  he  make  hats,  shoes,  garments  ?  Can  he  betake 
himself  to  the  spinning  of  cotton  or  wool,  the  weaving  of 
cloth,  the  working  of  brass,  or  iron,  or  lead  ?  None  of  these, 
nor  of  a  thousand  other  pursuits  which  the  protection  and  care 
his  own  Government  have  now  provided  for  him.  What  is  his 
resource  ?  The  economists  on  the  other  side  of  the  Atlantic 
tell  us  he  may  plant  cotton,  tobacco  and  corn,  and  sow  wheat. 
They  would  thus  advise  him  to  cultivate  the  opportunity  of 
adding  to  that  product  which  is  already  superabundant,  and 
still  more  reduce  the  price  of  such  of  those  commodities  as 
England  and  France  find  it  necessary  to  take  from  us.  This 
is  the  advice  of  England  to  us — that  England  who  will  not 
engage  to  take  directly  from  us  a  stick  of  timber,  or  a  barrel 
of  flour,  but  upon  terms  which  must  inevitably  ruin  every  ad 
venturer  in  the  trade  ;  that  England  who  tells  us  that  we 
should  content  ourselves  with  cultivating  the  raw  material  of 
manufactures,  and  leave  her  the  supply  of  the  fabricated 
product,  at  the  very  time  that  she  refuses  to  receive  any  thing 
but  our  cotton  and  tobacco,  constituting  not  one-fourth  of  the 


294  POLITICAL   PAPERS. 

mass  of  raw  materials  which,  if  she  would  take,  we  are  able 
to  give. 

It  is  merely  absurd,  in  the  face  of  our  present  experience, 
to  assert  that  we  are  only  an  agricultural  and  commercial 
people.  Our  progress  in  manufactures  and  the  mechanical 
arts,  in  the  last  twenty  years,  is  almost  without  a  parallel  in 
the  history  of  nations.  Every  one  must  see  that  the  genius 
of  our  country  is  singularly  inclined  to  mechanical  improve 
ment  ;  and  I  venture  to  assert  that  an  inquiry  into  the  condi 
tion  of  the  different  sections  of  this  country  will  result  in  a 
perfect  demonstration  that  the  largest  amount  of  prosperity 
will  be  found  diffused  among  the  people  of  those  districts 
which  have  devoted  themselves  with  the  greatest  assiduity 
to  mechanical  and  manufacturing  occupations.  In  truth,  no 
country  ever  attains  to  great  power  or  wealth  by  an  exclusive 
addiction  to  agriculture.  Nations  are  still  less  likely  to  attain 
to  it  now,  since  mechanical  science  has  added  such  wonder 
working  capacity  to  machinery.  The  exclusively  agricultural 
communities  have  ever  been  the  feeblest  and  most  dependent 
among  the  nations  of  the  world — the  most  powerful  and  com 
manding  are  those  who  have  added  to  the  productive  capaci 
ties  of  their  soil  the  creative  results  of  genius  employed  in 
the  sphere  of  the  useful  arts. 

A  word  as  to  this  question  of  the  duty  being  a  tax  upon 
the  consumer.  If  it  were  so,  I  would  ask,  who  is  the  con 
sumer?  The  assertion  is,  that  the  producer  gets  the  benefit 
of  the  tax,  and  that  the  consumer  pays  it.  Supposing  that 
true,  then  the  proposition  is  about  as  broad  as  it  is  long. 
There  are  very  few  consumers  in  this  country  who  are  not 
producers.  The  fanner,  for  instance,  produces  more  than  he 
consumes.  If,  as  producer,  he  gets  a  better  price  for  his  grain 
— as  he  undoubtedly  does,  through  the  influence  of  the  manu 
facturing  system — he  is  upon  the  whole  a  gainer  by  the  duty 
which  fosters  manufacturing.  So  also  the  mechanic  is  a  pro 
ducer  to  a  greater  extent  than  he  consumes,  and  he  profits 
also.  The  stockhoMer  is  also  one  who  has  lent  his  capital  to 


THE    PROTECTIVE    SYSTEM.  295 

the  producer,  and  his  capital  returns  him  a  better  interest  in 
proportion  as  the  producer's  craft  is  protected  and  encour 
aged  by  the  system.  In  short,  throughout  the  whole  range  of 
business,  there  is  a  principle  of  indemnification  at  work, 
which  utterly  annuls  the  supposed  effect  of  a  tax  upon  con 
sumption. 

There  is  another  most  important  consideration  belonging 
to  this  subject.  The  system  of  domestic  manufacture  and  me 
chanical  employment  has  a  valuable  train  of  accessories  attend 
ant  upon  it.  First,  the  workman  is  withdrawn  from  agricul 
tural  pursuits,  and  thus  lessens  the  competition  against  the  hus 
bandman.  Instead  of  being  the  rival,  he  and  his  family  are 
changed  into  customers  of  the  tiller  of  the  soil,  and  become 
the  purchasers  of  his  harvest.  Second,  every  mechanical  occu 
pation  creates  a  necessity  for  another ;  it  brings  into  demand 
the  labor  of  the  mason,  the  carpenter,  the  tool  maker,  and  the 
whole  roll  of  craftsmen  who  furnish  the  materials  of  a  manu 
facturing  village ;  and,  lastly,  it  invites  new  establishments  in 
the  same  pursuit ;  in  the  competition  of  which,  additional  skill 
is  rapidly  acquired ;  new  masses  of  population  are  employed ; 
products  are  cheapened ;  villages,  towns,  and  cities,  are  built 
up ;  markets  for  the  fruits  of  the  earth  are  created  where  none 
existed  before  ;  a  thousand  handicrafts,  auxiliary  to  household 
and  personal  wants,  are  brought  into  existence;  and  a  new 
fountain  of  prosperity  turns  its  current  over  these  large  masses 
of  population,  diffusing  life,  activity,  and  comfort,  where  before 
there  was  only  a  dull  and  stagnant  repose.  These  are  the  ac 
cessories  of  manufacturing  and  mechanical  employment,  and 
belong  to  that  employment,  in  whatever  country  it  is  carried 
on.  In  weighing,  therefore,  the  merits  of  this  domestic  policy, 
we  have  to  ask  the  question,  shall  these  accessories  be  foster 
ed  in  a  foreign  land,  and  for  the  benefit  of  a  foreign  popula 
tion,  or  shall  they  be  preserved  and  enjoyed  by  our  own  ?  The 
only  answer  the  opponents  of  protection  can  make  to  this  ques 
tion  is  to  deny  the  value  of  these  accessories ;  to  affirm  that 
the  country  is  better  without  them,  as  long  as  we  can  ex- 


29f>  POLITICAL    PAPERS. 

change  our  agricultural  wealth  for  cheap  foreign  goods ;  and 
to  maintain  that  only  when  we  cannot  so  exchange  it  we 
should  manufacture  for  ourselves.  Is  it  not  plain,  supposing 
(what  we  have  no  right  to  assume)  that  foreign  nations  will  re 
ceive  our  agricultural  products,  that  the  immense  yield  of  the 
country,  when  every  one  is  tilling  the  earth,  must  cheapen  our 
agriculture  quite  as  much  as  the  foreign  manufacture  is  cheap 
ened  ;  that  we  shall  be  toiling  in  the  midst  of  superabundant 
harvests,  at  the  very  lowest  rate  of  requital,  merely  for  the  pur 
pose  of  getting  cheap  goods  from  abroad — making  wheat,  for 
example,  at  fifty  cents  a  bushel,  in  order  to  buy  cloth  at  two  dol 
lars  a  yard  ;  and  that  we  shall  go  on  progressively  diminishing 
the  the  price  of  food  to  the  foreign  operative,  that  he  may  be  com 
pelled  to  work  at  still  lower  wages,  and  to  furnish  us  his  fabric 
at  a  still  lower  rate  ? 

What  do  we  gain  by  this  process  but  perpetual  poverty  and 
dependence,  low  wages,  small  choice  of  pursuit,  a  land  without 
a  workshop,  without  villages  or  towns,  an  idle  population,  and  a 
commerce  placed  at  the  mercy  of  foreign  Powers,  to  be  over 
thrown  at  any  moment  their  caprice  or  their  ill-will  may  sug 
gest  ?  If,  at  any  time,  wearied  with  the  monotony  or  the  unprofit 
ableness  of  this  doom  which  chains  us  to  the  plough,  we  should 
think  of  devoting  a  portion  of  our  strength  to  mechanical  or  man 
ufacturing  pursuits,  our  enterprise  would  be  checked  by  a  mar 
ket  filled  with  foreign  fabrics  at  half  the  price  for  which  we  could 
make  them,  and  we  should  be  conscious  of  a  perpetual  inter 
dict  forbidding  us  to  learn  the  art,  or  attain  the  skill  of  any 
manufacturing  craft.  Yet  this  would  be  called  free  trade !  It 
would  be,  according  to  the  canons  of  that  school,  leaving  the 
industry  of  the  country  to  seek  the  pursuits  most  congenial  to 
it,  without  interference  on  the  part  of  the  Government.  In  the 
contemplation  of  such  a  case,  I  ask  if  it  is  not  apparent  that 
Government  restrictions  are,  in  fact,  the  only  device  by  which 
labor  is  made  free  to  range  over  the  whole  field  of  human  em 
ployment;  and  if,  on  the  other  hand,  Government  forbearance 
is  not  the  only  source  of  impediment  and  constraint  upon  the 


THE    PROTECTIVE    SYSTEM.  297 

natural   capacity   and   desire  of  our  industry   to   occupy   the 
ground  which  God  has  assigned  to  it  ? 

But  it  is  now  the  fact,  and  it  will  always  be  so,  that  foreign 
nations  will  not  receive  our  agricultural  products,  except  in 
very  limited  quantity — far  below  our  capacity  to  supply  them. 
They  are  already  furnished  from  resources  of  their  own. 
What  are  we,  to  do?  Manufacture,  but  without  protection,  is 
the  answer.  That  is,  we  are  to  embark  capital  in  manufac 
tures,  train  up  a  population  to  these  pursuits,  disqualify  them 
for  all  others,  at  a  perpetual  sacrifice  of  means,  and  even  un 
der  a  continual  actual  loss.  Nothing  is  better  confirmed  by 
experience  than  the  fact  that  the  low  wages  of  Europe  will  sup 
ply  the  greater  amount  of  manufactures  cheaper  than  we  can 
supply  them.  He,  therefore,  who  attempts  to  manufacture  here 
without  a  protecting  duty,  insures  for  himself  irretrievable 
ruin.  Is  it. an  answer  to  say  that  foreign  manufacturers  can 
not  supply  us  unless  we  have  something  to  exchange  for  their 
fabrics ;  and  that,  as  they  will  not  receive  our  products,  we 
cannot  receive  theirs,  that  consequently  this  impediment  upon 
importation  will  be  sufficient  to  encourage  our  enterprise  ?  If 
this  were  true,  it  is  at  once  an  admission  of  the  value  of  a  pro 
tection,  since  a  protecting  duty  is  but  an  impediment  upon  im 
portation.  But  it  is  not  true.  We  give  them  a  very  consider 
able  amount  of  products — not  a  tithe,  perhaps,  of  what  we 
could  furnish  them,  but  still  a  large  amount — and  for  these 
they  exchange  their  manufactures.  Now,  while  the  foreign  fab 
ric  is  in  our  market,  no  matter  how  incommensurate  to  our 
wants,  it  will  regulate  the  price  of  our  similar  fabric,  especially 
while  it  is  known  that  the  foreign  supply  is  abundant  at  the 
place  where  it  is  produced.  American  iron,  for  instance,  can 
not  be  sold  for  seventy  dollars  a  ton,  while  English  iron  of 
equal  quality,  is  to  be  had  for  sixty,  notwithstanding  the  fact 
that,  of  the  English,  the  supply  is  not  sufficient  to  meet  a  twen 
tieth  part  of  the  demand.  The  whole  will  fall  towards  the  Eng 
lish  price,  and  that  price  will,  under  all  circumstances,  be  kept 
lower  than  the  American,  for  the  sake  of  readv  sale.  And  thus 


298  POLITICAL    PAPERS. 

it  is,  that  even  the  surplus  stocks  of  foreign  nations,  which 
may  be  afforded  often  at  the  original  cost  of  production  with 
out  a  profit,  have  a  control  upon  the  price  of  our  manufac 
tures  ;  which  control  may  be,  and  in  truth  is,  exercised 
(whenever  our  duties  are  relaxed),  to  the  detriment  and  over 
throw  of  the  enterprise  of  our  own  people.  I  do  not  mean  to 
say  that  this  effect  is  universal  in  regard  to  American  manu 
facture.  Thanks  to  the  genius  of  our  country,  we  have  some 
branches  that  have  acquired  a  strength  and  a  foundation  which 
foreign  rivalry  cannot  impair !  And  it  is  a  gratifying  convic 
tion  that  every  year  witnesses  an  increase  of  those  arts  in 
which  our  workmen  may  defy  the  skill  of  the  world.  It  is  not 
many  years  since  this  species  of  enterprise  appealed,  in  the 
helplessness  of  its  infancy,  to  the  nurture  of  the  Government. 
A  ready  hand  and  a  parental  care  were  freely  proffered,  in  an 
swer  to  the  appeal.  The  result  is  what  we  see,  and  ought  to 
inspire  us  with  confidence  in  the  wisdom  of  protecting  those 
pursuits  for  which  the  country  has  a  capacity,  but  which  are 
yet  unable  to  encounter  the  foreign  assault. 

It  is  a  prevalent  error  into  which  both  sides  have  fallen,  in 
treating  this  question  of  the  protective  and  anti-protective  pol 
icy,  to  regard  it  in  the  light  of  a  purely  theoretical  problem, 
and  to  maintain  it  on  either  side,  upon  arguments  which  claim 
to  be  universal  and  unchangeable  in  their  application.  In  my 
judgment,  it  is  the  most  practical  of  questions,  and  rests  ex 
clusively  upon  considerations  of  present  expediency  in  the  cir 
cumstances  of  every  nation.  The  wisdom  of  establishing  high 
or  low  duties  can  only  be  estimated  by  the  condition  of  the  com 
munity  to  which  they  refer.  High  duties  may  be  conspicuous 
ly  useful  to  one  nation,  and  as  conspicuously  hurtful  to  another. 
I  have  shown  why  I  think  them  indispensable  to  the  United 
States. 

But  we  are  told  that  enlightened  economists  in  England 
condemn  our  policy.  We  have  proof  of  this,  indeed,  in  the 
endless  dissertations  of  the  British  press  in  favor  of  free  trade ; 
and  the  recent  legislation  of  that  country  is  cited  to  show  how 


THE  PROTECTIVE  SYSTEM.  299 

much  the  public  mind  there  has  awakened  to  the  error  of  its 
ancient  heresy  of  protection,  and  to  the  absolute  virtue  of  free 
trade. 

Protesting  against  the  influence  which  is  sought  to  be  de 
rived  from  these  opinions,  and  from  the  supposed  scope  of  the 
legislation  referred  to,  I  desire  to  make  a  few  remarks  in  reply. 

The  argument  drawn  from  this  source  is  delusive,  on  two 
grounds ; 

In  the  first  place,  if  it  were  true,  it  furnishes  no  guide  to 
us,  as  I  have  already  shown. 

But,  in  the  second  place,  it  is  untrue.  Great  Britain  has 
never  adopted  the  policy  of  free  trade.  On  the  contrary,  there 
is  no  nation  whose  interests,  connected  with  the  industry  of 
her  people,  are  hedged  around  with  a  more  impregnable  de 
fence  of  restrictions  than  hers.  Her  navigation  is  fortified  by 
a  thousand  bulwarks,  which  render  it  the  most  effective  and  ex 
clusive  national  monopoly  of  which  the  world  has  ever  had  an 
example.  Her  colonial  possessions  are  guarded  for  her  own 
trade,  by  all  the  power  of  parchment  and  the  sword — by  law, 
by  treaty,  and  by  armament.  Her  domestic  industry  is  en 
trenched  behind  a  mountain  of  barriers,  which  the  industry  of 
no  other  nation  can  overleap.  Shall  we  be  deceived,  while 
contemplating  this  elaborate  and  time-honored  structure  of  ac 
cumulated  defences — equally  the  manifestation  of  her  jealousy 
of  rivals  and  of  her  foresight — by  such  relaxations  in  the  rigor 
of  her  ancient  system  as  the  maturity  of  her  power  and  the  per 
fection  of  her  skill  have  rendered  not  only  harmless,  but  even 
more  operative,  as  the  means  of  protection  ? 

An  endeavor  is  made  to  promote  the  belief  that  Sir  Robert 
Peel's  late  bill  has  sprung  out  of  a  conviction  of  the  necessity 
of  abandoning  the  protective  system,  and  that  it  is  the  first 
measure  which  is  destined  to  signalize  a  new  era  of  free  trade. 
The  same  language  was  used  in  reference  to  Mr.  Huskisson's 
hill,  in  1825.  An  inspection  of  the  late  act  of  the  British  Par 
liament  will  convince  us,  that  whatever  changes  may  have  been 
made  in  the  rates  of  duty,  none  have  been  made  in  the  ftmda- 


POLITICAL    PAPERS. 

mental  principles  of  the  ancient  British  policy  in  the  support 
of  manufactures.  On  the  question  of  breadstuffs  and  provis 
ions,  I  admit  that  the  remonstrances  of  a  famished  population 
have  had  their  weight  to  produce  what,  as  far  as  it  goes,  may 
be  regarded  as  a  most  salutary  and  beneficent  change.  Yet, 
even  in  this  field,  the  principle  of  protection  is  maintained 
upon  what,  here  in  the  United  States,  we  should  call  a  very  high 
duty.  The  general  scope  of  these  modifications  has  been  to 
reduce  the  duty  on  provisions  only  a  few  degrees  below  actual 
prohibition,  and  to  incorporate  into  the  new  law  a  very  decided 
encouragement  to  the  industry  of  the  colonial  possessions.* 
In  fact,  this  measure  of  reducing  duties  upon  food  is  a  most 
significant  auxiliary  to  the  protection  of  manufactures. 

But  when  we  look  at  the  manner  in  which  the  late  act  has 
disposed  of  the  question  of  protection  to  the  great  staple 
manufactures  of  the  kingdom,  we  shall  better  understand 
the  scope  and  value  of  these  supposed  reforms. 

Let  it  be  remembered,  that  England  supplies  with  her  fab- 

*  Bacon,  for  instance,  formerly  paid  a  duty  of  six  cents  a  pound. 
The  new  bill  reduces  it  to  three  cents  when  imported  from  a  foreign 
country,  and  seven  and  one  half  mills  only  per  pound  when  brought 
from  a  British  Colony. 

The  former  wheat  and  flour  duties  were  regulated  by  a  scale  which, 
when  wheat  stood  in  the  market  at  $1.60  per  bushel,  fixed  the  duty 
on  the  grain  at  seventy-two  cents  a  bushel,  and  on  the  barrel  of  flour 
at  $5.90.  These  were  the  highest  rates,  and  the  duties  declined,  as 
the  price  of  wheat  rose,  through  a  regular  series,  until  they  reached 
their  lowest  point  when  wheat  arrived  at  $2.20  per  bushel ;  at  that 
point,  the  duty  was  two  cents  and  eight  mills  per  bushel  on  wheat, 
and  $3.95  on  the  barrel  of  flour.  Sir  Robert  Peel's  bill  lessened  the 
rates  of  duty  by  beginning  with  the  highest,  to  wit :  60  cents  a  bushel 
on  wheat,  and  $2.89  on  the  barrel  of  flour,  when  wheat  is  $1.53  per 
bushel,  and  falls  through  a  regular  scale  to  three  cents  a  bushel,  and 
fourteen  cents  on  the  barrel  of  flour,  when  the  price  of  wheat  rises  to 
$2.19  per  bushel.  This  applied  to  imports  from  foreign  countries. 
But  as  regards  imports  from  the  colonies,  the  scale  is  much  lower,  and 
varies  from  fifteen  cents  to  three  cents  on  the  bushel  of  wheat,  and 
from  seventy -two  cents  to  fourteen  and  one  half  on  the  barrel  of 
Hour. 


THE    PROTECTIVE    SYSTEM.  301 

rics  every  foreign  market  to  which  her  trade  can  find  admission. 
The  more  prominent  and  notable  among  these  products  of  her 
skill  are  woollens,  cottons,  and  linens.  There  are  many  others 
which  it  is  not  necessary  to  mention.  In  the  facility  of  creat 
ing  the  large  mass  of  these  productions,  she  is  unrivalled. 
There  are  other  fabrics,  such  as  silks,  fine  lawns  and  laces,  not 
to  enumerate  others,  in  which  she  finds  herself  under  a  vigor 
ous  and  somewhat  oppressive  competition,  from  France,  Ger 
many,  and  other  countries.  In  that  department  of  her  indus 
try  in  which  she  excels  other  nations,  and  for  which  she  can, 
therefore,  gain  a  preference  in  foreign  markets,  it  is  obvious 
she  needs  no  protecting  duty  to  secure  to  her  own  artisans 
the  home  supply.  We  can  imagine  no  inducement  for  high 
duties  to  protect  the  products  within  this  department.  Im 
porting  none  of  them,  any  duty  in  her  tariff  must  be  but  nom 
inal. 

Keeping  this  idea  in  mind,  let  us  inquire  into  the  policy  of 
the  new  bill  in  its  connection  with  these  points. 

The  annual  amount  of  woollens  manufactured  in  Great 
Britain  has  been  estimated  in  value  at  ^"22,000,000 — about 
$  1 10,000,000;  her  annual  export  of  these  at  ,£7,000,000,  or  $35,- 
000,000  ;  the  difference  is  absorbed  by  her  home  consumption. 
Her  imports  of  woollen  goods,  according  to  recent  returns,  yield 
about  $100,000  of  duty,  which  would  indicate  their  total  value 
to  be  less  than  $250,000.  The  duty  upon  woollens  was  here 
tofore  forty  per  cent. ;  the  late  bill  reduces  it  to  fifteen  and 
twenty  per  cent. 

Of  manufactured  cottons,  Mr.  McCulloh,  in  1835,  esti 
mated  the  entire  product  at  about  $170,000,000,  and  the  ex 
port  at  about  $100,000,000.  The  importation  of  cotton  goods 
into  England  seldom  reaches  half  a  million  of  dollars.  The 
duties  have  heretofore  been  ten  and  twenty  per  cent.,  and  the 
new  bill  has  left  them  untouched. 

The  linen  manufacture  has  been  computed,  by  the  same 
author,  at  $37,000,000  per  annum  ;  the  export  about  one-third 
of  that  amount.  The  import  is  very  small.  The  bill  reduces 


302  POLITICAL    PAPERS. 

the  duties,  which  heretofore  ranged  between  40  and  20  per 
cent.,  down  to  20  and  15. 

Here  we  have  three  branches  of  British  manufacture,  pro 
ducing  annually  about  $317,000,000,  supplying  the  various 
channels  of  British  trade,  with  an  export  of  near  $150,000,000, 
and  subject  to  a  competition  in  the  home  market  to  an  amount 
less  than  $1,000,000.  And  it  is  deemed  to  be  a  surrender  of 
domestic  protection  to  reduce  the  duties  on  these  three 
branches  of  manufacture  to  a  standard  of  fifteen  and  twenty 
per  cent.  This  surrender  is  presented  to  us  as  an  example, 
and  we  are  called  upon,  in  imitation  of  it,  to  bring  down  our 
duties  to  the  same  standard.  Is  it  not  obvious,  that  a  nation 
which  can  export  $150,000,000  of  her  fabrics  in  a  year  has  al 
ready  secured  a  position  for  that  branch  of  her  industry,  at 
which  all  duties  are  indifferent  to  her  ?  Does  any  one  doubt 
that  Sir  Robert  Peel  might  have  fixed  his  standard  as  safely  at 
five  per  cent,  as  at  twenty  ?  Has  he  by  this  reduction  deserted 
any  manufacture,  turned  any  workman  back  to  agriculture,  ob 
literated  any  capital,  shut  up  any  workshop,  given  the  home 
market  of  England  to  any  foreigner  ?  Where  is  there  any  pa 
rallelism  in  the  case,  which  is  to  make  this  act  an  example  for 
the  United  States  ? 

How  does  the  matter  stand  in  reference  to  those  manufac 
tures  in  which  England  is  not  so  dexterous  ? 

Manufactured  silk  goods,  in  which  France,  Germany,  Italy, 
and  the  East  Indies,  are  known  to  excel,  stood  in  the  former 
tariff  at  varying  rates  of  duty,  according  to  their  quality,  from 
$2.64  a  pound  up  to  $6.60  a  pound,  which  duties  Sir  Robert 
Peel  has  found  it  altogether  inexpedient  to  change.*  It  is  true, 


*  These  silk  duties  are  carefully  graduated  according  to  the  danger 
of  interference  with  the  home  market,  from  the  want  of  perfection  in 
the  British  manufacture.  Thus  : 

Plain  silk  and  satin  is  admitted  at  .  .  $2.64  por  pound. 

Figured  silk  and  satin  .  ,  .'  .      3.60 

<J;ni/<>,  plain  .          -.  .        "  '.  .   '         4.08 

<r:iii/c,  figured  •  .    .        •  •    '        .    '        .      6.60 


THE   PROTECTIVE    SYSTEM.  303 

he  has  reduced  the  duties  on  some  preparations  of  raw  silk — 
a  measure  evidently  dictated  by  a  desire  to  afford  further  pro 
tection  and  encouragement  to  the  manufactured  article. 

Upon  French  lawns  the  duty  was  $1.44  the  piece,  of  8 
yards  in  length ;  this  is  reduced  to  $1.20 

Upon  bordered  lawn  handkerchiefs  the  duty  was  $1.20  the 
piece,  at  which  it  remains. 

Upon  other  lawns  than  French,  containing  not  more  than 
60  threads  to  the  inch  (an  article  upon  which  the  duties  col 
lected  in  1840  amounted  to  $24),  the  duty  was  18  cents  the 
square  yard,  and  is  retained  at  that  unchanged. 

On  sugar  (not  refined)  imported  from  any  quarter  but  a 
British  possession  (from  such  a  possession  it  is  much  less),  the 
duty  was  13  cents  a  pound  ; 

On  refined  sugar,  35  cents  a  pound  ; 

On  brown  candy,  24  cents  a  pound  ;  and 

On  white  candy,  35  cents. 

All  these  duties  are  retained  in  the  new  bill,  without  alter 
ation. 

ypon  tobacco  the  duty  remains  as  before  ;  that  is,  at  72 
cents  a  pound  for  the  unmanufactured,  and  $2.16  a  pound  for 
the  manufactured. 

These  are  a  few  items  taken  from  the  tariff  of  Great  Britain. 
I  have  noticed  the  course  of  legislation  which  has  been  adopted 
in  regard  to  them,  with  a  view  to  justify  my  remark  that  that 
nation  has,  as  yet,  afforded  us  no  evidence  of  her  purpose  to 
abandon  the  protection  of  her  manufacturers  ;  that  she  has,  in 
fact,  made  no  approach  to  such  a  design.  If  the  provisions  I 

Crape,  plain  ...        .  ...      ....      ••'-.-•        3.84  per  pound. 

Crape,  figured  _,.        .    ._.     .if)       .  ^  ..     4.32 

Velvet,  plain          ,  «  ,  .  ,          -  .  5.28        " 

Velvet,  figured  .  .  .  .  .       6.60        " 

Uibbons       .        ';    . "         .  .  '.•'  '        .  4.08        " 

Silk  net  -.          -  .  .        '     .  .  .      5.76 

The  duty  on  silks  in  our  tariff,  as  passed  at  the  last  session,  does 
not  exceed  $2.50  per  pound. 


30-A  POLITICAL    PAPERS. 

have  reviewed  were,  what  certain  politicians  of  this  country 
represent  them,  concessions  to  the  spirit  of  free  trade,  why 
have  we  this  variety  of  duty  ?  this  sliding  scale  on  wheat  from 
the  point  of  prohibition  downward  ;  those  enormous  duties  on 
silk,  graduated  to  the  hazard  of  competition  ;  this  twenty  per 
cent,  on  woollens,  this  fifteen  on  linens,  this  ten  on  cottons ; 
this  two  and  three  hundred  on  sugar  ;  this  thousand  per  cent, 
on  tobacco  ?  These  discriminations  have  an  object.  Is  that 
object  revenue  ?  Upon  many  of  these  commodities  no  reve 
nue  is  collected — none  whatever.  Is  it  free  trade  ?  If  so,  why 
build  the  gates  of  such  unequal  heights  ?  Or  is  it  protection  ? 
Go  and  inquire  of  the  whole  history  of  English  industry,  for 
two  hundred  years  past,  and  you  will  have  no  difficulty  in  the 
answer.  It  is  quite  edifying  to  observe  how  liberal  has  be 
come  the  policy  of  British  statesmen  in  the  toleration  of  a  low 
duty  on  such  manufactures  as  their  artisans  make  better  than 
all  the  world  ;  and  how  that  toleration  hardens  into  cautious  re 
serve,  when  the  question  concerns  those  unperfected  occupa 
tions  in  which  British  supremacy  is  acknowledged  to  be  a  mat 
ter  of  doubt. 

The  protective  system,  all  over  Christendom,  has  grown  to 
be  a  question  with  England.  It  is  no  small  homage  to  the 
genius  of  that  nation,  that  her  arts  have  asserted  such  a  do 
minion  over  the  interests  of  the  civilized  world.  I  should  be 
almost  content,  England  being  out  of  the  way,  to  try  free  trade 
with  all  the  rest  of  Europe.  I  believe  that  in  a  few  years  we 
might  gain  as  much  as  we  should  lose.  But  I  am  not  wil 
ling  to  encounter  the  resource  and  faculty  of  England  ;  and  it 
would  seem  that  she  is  as  little  inclined  to  encounter  ours. 
I  hold  it  to  be  a  question  distinctly  with  her. 

Even  as  regards  those  manufactures  in  which  we  excel,  as 
we  do  in  many  of  the  coarser  kinds,  the  competition  of  Eng 
land  has  a  crushing  weight.  Those  surplus  products  of  hers 
are,  every  now  and  then,  turned  loose  in  inundations  upon  us. 
In  that  circle  of  nations  for  whose  supply  she  is  perpetually 
busy,  it  is  peculiarly  her  fortune  to  meet  with  interruptions  to 


THE    PROTECTIVE    SYSTEM.  305 

her  commerce.  Scarcely  a  war,  a  pestilence,  an  overteeming 
harvest,  a  new  alliance  of  trade,  occurs  in  any  region  of  the 
globe,  to  turn  the  ordinary  currents  of  commerce  awry,  that 
the  pulse  of  England  does  not  show  the  change  in  some  depart 
ment  of  her  industry.  Some  vent  is  shut  up ;  some  portion 
of  her  stock  is  thrown  back  into  her  lap.  Then  it  is  that  the 
United  States  are  doomed  to  be  the  recipient  of  fresh  supplies 
of  cheap  merchandise  beyond  our  healthful  wants,  and  all  the 
fibers  of  our  own  industry  are  made  to  feel  this  unwelcome 
boon.  No  skill  of  production  can  secure  us  against  such  a 
disaster — scarcely  are  duties,  short  of  prohibition,  a  defence. 

All  Europe  has  suffered  from  the  same  cause,  and,  with 
hardly  a  single  exception,  every  nation  of  that  quarter  of  the 
world  has  settled  down  upon  a  system  of  protection.  So  far  is 
it  from  being  true,  as  is  frequently  asserted,  that  the  enlight 
ened  nations  are  exploding  restrictions  and  taking  up  free  trade. 

It  is  in  no  spirit  of  vituperation  or  hostility  to  England  that 
we  indulge  these  opinions,  but  in  the  friendly  rivalry  of  nations 
pursuing  their  own  ends,  according  to  their  own  views  of  their 
interest.  I  have  a  cherished  respect  for  that  nation,  as  the 
great  nurse  of  history,  of  philosophy  and  art.  I  commend  her 
wisdom,  I  admire  her  policy,  I  honor  her  patriotism  ;  but  I 
will  not  take  her  manufactures  at  low  duties,  as  long  as  an 
American  mechanic  can  supply  me  with  the  same  commodity. 
I  more  especially  would  refuse  to  take  the  full  supply  of  her 
manufactures,  while  she  burdens  our  tobacco,  our  grain,  our 
lumber,  our  provisions,  with  onerous  and  even  prohibitory 
charges ;  I  would  refuse  to  give  her  free  admission  while  she 
shuts  us  out  from  her  colonies,  by  this  ingenious  system  of 
circuitous  trade  which  transfers  to  her  own  vessels  the  carriage 
of  our  products.  And,  even  if  all  these  impediments  were  re 
moved,  I  will  not  say  that  I  would  relax  that  countervailing 
policy  by  which  alone  her  stupendous  power  is  to  be  resisted, 
and  the  American  citizen  be  allowed  to  feel  himself,  while 
standing  upon  his  own  soil,  that  free  man  he  prides  himself 
in  being.  The  time  may  come,  perhaps,  when  we,  like  England, 


306  POLITICAL    PAPERS. 

may  afford  to  be  generous  ;  when,  like  her,  we  may  have  an  in 
terest  to  beguile  the  world  with  illusory  concessions  to  free 
trade.  Then  we  may  relax  our  system  ;  but  until  then,  we 
shall  reverence  the  lesson  she  has  taught  us,  to  preserve  with 
inviolable  watchfulness  the  first  and  best  fruits  of  the  home 
market  to  the  home  workman. 

A  great  deal  of  misconception  prevails  as  to  the  proper 
end  and  character  of  protection. 

If  I  were  asked,  what  is  the  chief  object  of  Government  and 
what  its  first  duty,  I  would  answer,  protection.  I  do  not  mean 
the  protection  of  manufactures  and  mechanical  industry  only  ; 
I  mean  the  protection  of  every  interest  in  the  State.  It  is 
essential  to  agriculture  ;  to  the  useful  arts  and  sciences,  and 
the  occupations  connected  with  them  ;  to  commerce  and  navi 
gation  ;  to  mining  and  fisheries  ;  to  currency  and  credit.  I 
say  nothing  as  to  that  more  familiar  idea  of  protection  to  prop 
erty,  to  personal  liberty,  to  life.  All  these  concerns  require 
and  receive  the  protection  of  every  well  organized  Government. 
There  is  no  shallower  cant  than  this  cry  of  "let  us  alone,"  as 
applied  to  the  administration  of  the  polity  of  States. 

If  we  inquire  into  the  history  of  our  legislation,  we  shall 
find  that  agriculture  has  been  protected  by  duties,  by  grants 
of  land  and  expensive  experiments,  b;  treaties  securing  favor 
able  conditions  of  trade,  by  countervailing  regulations,  and  by 
the  creation  of  markets  for  it  both  at  home  and  abroad. 
Without  dwelling  on  particulars,  I  may  refer  for  examples  in 
these  several  kinds  to  the  duties  on  cotton,  on  indigo,  on  hemp, 
and  on  tobacco  ;  to  the  grants  which  have  been  made  to  the 
cultivators  of  the  vine,  of  the  agave  plant,  and  other  produc 
tions  which  it  has  been  thought  useful  to  naturalize  in  our  cli 
mate  ;  to  our  commercial  treaties  generally,  which  furnish 
abundant  proofs  of  the  solicitude  of  the  Government  to  open 
every  accessible  market  to  the  produce  of  our  soil.  Indeed  it 
has  always  been  a  principal  source  of  the  favor  which  the 
agriculturists  of  this  country — at  least  that  large  portion  of 
them  who  are  concerned  in  the  production  of  food — have  man- 


THE    PEOTECTIVE    SYSTEM.  307 

ifested  for  the  tariff  policy,  that  it  has  contributed  so  effectively 
to  furnishing  them  a  market  for  their  crops.  When  the  tariffs  of 
1824  and  1828  were  under  consideration,  the  desks  of  Congress 
were  loaded  with  petitions  from  the  agricultural  interests,  in 
behalf  of  the  passage  of  the  bills  :  and  these  interests,  through 
out  the  grain-growing  States,  have  been  the  steady,  consistent 
friends  of  the  policy,  from  the  earliest  period  at  which  it  attract 
ed  public  attention.  It  was  quite  a  remarkable  fact  that  the 
leading  advocates  of  the  tariff  of  1816  were  from  the  South, 
and  that  they  supported  it  as  a  measure  of  protection  to 
Southern  agriculture.  Their  argument  was  drawn  from  the 
duty  of  Government  to  foster  the  cultivation  of  cotton,  by  re 
straining  the  consumption  and  finally  abandoning  the  use  of 
the  East  India  cotton,  which  at  that  time  was  general  over  the 
country.  It  was  remonstrated  against  this  tariff,  that  the  break 
ing  up  of  the  East  India  trade  would  expel  a  large  number  of 
seamen  from  employment.  But  that  was  considered  a  small 
evil  against  the  great  preponderance  of  good  which  was  to  re 
sult  from  the  protection  of  the  cotton  culture.* 

To  understand  how  extensively  and  at  what  cost  of  legisla 
tion,  of  diplomacy,  and  taxation,  commerce  is  protected,  it  is 
only  necessary  to  examine  our  numerous  navigation  laws,  our 
tonnage  duties,  our  treaty  stipulations  for  particular  privileges, 
and  the  expense  at  which  we  have  reciprocated  them  with  oth 
er  nations  :  to  investigate  the  outlay  and  the  duties  of  our  dip- 


*  Mr.  Calhoun,  on  that  occasion,  used  the  following  language  : 
"  It  has  been  objected  to  this  bill  that  it  will  injure  our  marine,  and 
consequently  impair  our  naval  strength.  How  far  it  is  fairly  liable 
to  this  charge  he  was  not  prepared  to  say.  He  hoped  and  believed 
it  would  not,  at  least  to  any  alarming  extent,  have  that  effect  immedi 
ately  ;  and  he  firmly  believed  that  its  lasting  operation  would  be  highly 
beneficial  to  our  commerce.  The  trade  to  the  East  Indies  would  cer 
tainly  be  much  affected ;  but  it  was  stated  in  debate  that  the  whole 
of  that  trade  employed  but  six  hundred  sailors.  But,  whatever  might 
be  the  loss  in  this  and  other  branches  of  our  foreign  commerce,  he 
trusted  it  would  be  amply  compensated  in  our  coasting  trade — a 
branch  of  navigation  wholly  in  our  own  hands." — Extract  from  Mr. 
Calhoun' s  speech  on  the  Minimum  Valuation,  from  report  in  the  Na 
tional  Intelligencer  of  April  11,1816. 


308  POLITICAL    PAPERS. 

lomatic  service  and  consular  representation  ;  to  learn  what 
squadrons  we  keep  afloat,  and  the  nature  of  the  tasks  we  as 
sign  them  ?  what  special  indemnities  we  have  insisted  on,  and 
at  what  cost ;  what  wars  we  have  waged,  and  what  we  contin 
ually  threaten,  in  support  of  it. 

Upon  what  ground,  then,  can  we  refuse  protection  to  the 
third  great  interest  of  the  nation,  the  Manufactures  and  Me 
chanical  arts.  It  seems  that  all  other  protection  is  acquiesced 
in  but  this.  The  dispute  only  arises  when  the  Government 
turns  its  thought  to  the  guardianship  of  this  branch  of  its  in 
dustry  ;  and  many  persons,  hearing  no  other  protection  talked 
of,  believe  that  this  is  the  only  interest  of  the  country  that  seeks 
it.  Hence  has  sprung  that  common  error  that  the  manufac 
turers  and  mechanics  are  asking  favors  from  the  Government 
which  are  denied  to  all  other  classes  of  citizens. 

In  protecting  any  interest  by  a  duty,  the  chief  objection 
taken  to  it  is  that  the  duty  is  a  tax  upon  the  people  ;  and  the 
question  is  asked,  why  should  one  portion  of  the  people  pay 
for  the  advancement  of  the  prosperity  of  another  ? 

Suppose  a  duty  does  amount  to  a  tax  on  the  country — a 
proposition  by  no  means  universally  true — how  does  that  af 
fect  the  argument  ?  Is  it  a  condition  that  Government  shall 
afford  no  protection  to  the  citizen  but  that  which  costs  noth 
ing?  All  protection  involves  cost ;  and  the  only  question  is, 
the  value  of  the  investment.  If  the  success  of  agriculture  can 
be  promoted,  if  commerce  can  be  enriched,  if  home  industry 
can  be  rendered  more  profitable,  if  the  domestic  resources  can 
be  multiplied,  by  a  tax,  what  fair  argument  can  be  drawn  from 
the  expense  to  the  nation,  provided  that  expense  is  compensated 
in  the  resulting  good  ? 

It  ought  to  be  observed,  too,  that  protection  may  be  af 
forded  by  other  means  than  duties,  which  means  may  be 
equally  expensive  to  the  nation.  We  may  establish  by  treaty, 
or  adjust  by  law,  such  relations  with  foreign  powers  as  shall 
exclude  nine-tenths  of  all  our  products  from  their  ports,  for 
the  sake  of  gaining  some  special  favor  in  behalf  of  one  of  our 


THE    PROTECTIVE    SYSTEM.  309 

products  ;  or  we  may  quietly  submit  to  regulations  of  trade 
which  will  produce  the  same  effect.  This  is  precisely  what 
we  have  done  in  regard  to  our  cotton,  in  our  relations  with 
England. 

We  may  make  a  tariff  and  construct  a  system  of  trade 
which  shall  admit  a  large  amount  of  the  staples  of  other  na 
tions  free  of  duty,  with  a  purpose  thereby  to  secure  from  these 
nations  the  consumption  of  a  greater  quantity  of  this  staple  of 
ours,  to  which  we  have  just  alluded — cotton.  The  effect  of 
such  a  system  might  be  to  embarrass  a  large  amount  of  our  in 
dustry  at  home,  by  overstocking  our  market  with  these  free 
goods  ;  to  overwhelm  our  currency  by  creating  a  heavy  foreign 
debt  ;  to  disturb  the  business  of  our  regular  American  mer 
chant  by  floods  of  foreign  consignment  which  should  pour  in 
upon  us  the  surplus  stocks  of  foreign  manufacturers,  at  rates 
which  destroy  all  fair  competition.  This  is,  in  truth,  the  his 
tory  of  the  last  ten  years,  in  our  intercourse  with  France,  Eng 
land,  and  Germany.  Our  treaties  with  France,  especially,  and 
our  tariff,  have  favored  their  silks,  wines,  and  worsted  goods, 
for  the  sake  of  our  cotton.  In  proof  of  this,  I  refer  to  the 
treaty  of  June  24,  1822,  and  particularly  to  that  of  the  4th  of 
July,  1831,  in  which  a  specific  bargain  is  made  for  the  admis 
sion  into  France  of  the  long  staple  cottons  at  the  same  rate  of 
duty  as  the  short — the  consideration  yielded  for  this  favor  be 
ing  the  admission  of  the  French  wines  into  our  ports. 

These  are  chiefly  the  means  by  which  we  have  protected 
the  cotton  interest  of  this  country.  In  truth,  that  interest,  not 
withstanding  the  exasperated  tone  of  those  concerned  with  it 
against  the  protective  policy,  may  be  said  to  be  almost  the  only 
one  in  the  circle  of  our  domestic  industry  which  has  received 
the  steady,  persevering,  and  constant  protection  of  the  Govern 
ment.  Every  other  interest,  perhaps,  has  been  occasionally 
exposed  to  a  charge  of  policy,  but  this.  We  have  passively 
and  unresistingly  seen  our  other  agricultural  products — our 
grain,  our  tobacco,  our  lumber,  hemp,  rice,  sugar,  and  provi 
sions — excluded  from  the  markets  of  those  nations  which  have 


310  POLITICAL    PAPERS. 

professed  to  be  the  most  friendly  to  our  trade.  We  have  seen 
our  commerce  embarrassed  by  interdicts,  by  reciprocal  treaties, 
and  colonial  restrictions  ;  our  manufactures  and  mechanical 
pursuits  prostrated  ;  our  currency  overwhelmed.  All  this  we 
have  seen  and  submitted  to,  in  deference  to  those  views  of  pol 
icy  which  have  been  dictated  to  the  country  by  the  influence 
of  free-trade  politicians,  the  peculiar  friends  of  the  cotton  in 
terest.  That  interest  has  alone  remained  in  the  full  possession 
of  all  the  direct  protection  it  was  in  the  power  of  the  Govern 
ment  to  confer  upon  it. 

I  know  that  this  will  be  regarded  as  a  bold  and  startling 
assertion  ;  but  it  is  true,  and  the  fact  deserves  to  be  noticed. 
It  is  time  that  the  secret  or  unseen  tendency  of  our  commer 
cial  system,  in  reference  to  this  subject,  should  be  understood  ; 
not  with  any  view  of  assault  upon  that  interest,  or  change  of 
measures  affecting  it — I  have  no  other  than  the  most  friendly 
feeling  towards  it ;  but  that  justice  may  be  done  to  the  claims 
of  other  interests,  quite  as  important  (to  say  the  least  of  them) 
as  the  cotton. 

In  no  hostile  spirit,  I  will  enumerate  the  particular  forms 
in  which  the  protection  of  Government  has  been  extended,  to 
promote  the  prosperity  of  this  great  Southern  staple. 

In  the  first  place,  it  has  been  protected  by  a  specific  duty, 
laid  expressly  to  encourage  its  cultivation.  This  duty  was  in 
troduced  into  the  tariff  of  1789,  and  has  been  continued  ever 
since.  It  is  a  duty  which,  at  this  day,  amounts  to  some  thirty 
or  forty  per  cent,  and  entirely  prohibits  the  introduction  of 
cotton  from  countries  ready  and  willing  to  furnish  a  very  con 
siderable  amount  for  the  supply  of  our  markets.  This  is  par 
ticularly  true  as  regards  Texas. 

Second,  the  tariff  of  1816  was  constructed  with  a  view  to 
its  protection,  by  breaking  up  the  trade  in  fabrics  made  from 
East  India  cotton — a  purpose  in  which  it  was  eminently  suc 
cessful. 

Third,  it  has  been  protected  by  those  regulations  of  trade 
to  which  I  have  already  referred,  by  which  it  has  been  secured 


THE    PROTECTIVE    SYSTEM.  311 

an  easy  admission  into  the  use  of  the  chief  manufacturing  na 
tions  of  Europe. 

Fourth,  our  free  importation  system,  adopted  in  1833,  pro 
duced  a  state  of  foreign  exchange  which  remained  steadily  fa 
vorable  to  the  interest  of  the  cotton  planter  until  that  system 
was  recently  repealed.  This  state  of  exchange  gave  him,  dur 
ing  that  whole  interval  of  nearly  ten  years,  an  advantage  which 
was  denied  to  almost  every  other  producer  in  the  country. 
He  has  been,  through  that  term,  the  holder  of  funds  abroad, 
always  more  valuable  than  at  home,  and  capable  of  being  con 
verted  into  the  domestic  currency  at  a  large  profit.  He  has 
thus  been  saved  from  exposure  to  those  losses  which  have  so 
grievously  distressed  other  portions  of  the  community,  through 
the  disorder  and  depreciation  of  the  common  circulating  me 
dium. 

Fifth,  in  the  comparative  exemption  of  the  cotton  grower 
from  contributing  to  the  expenses  of  Government,  resulting 
from  the  fact  that  he  consumes  less  of  those  commodities 
which  pay  duties,  will  be  found  no  inconsiderable  item  of 
protection.  The  slave  population  of  the  South,  constituting 
so  large  a  portion  of  the  inhaitants  of  that  region,  consume 
less  of  imported  goods  than  the  white  population  of  the  Free 
States,  and  the  proportionate  amount  supplied  to  the  Federal 
Treasury  is  therefore  less  in  the  Slave  States  than  in  the  Free. 

Lastly,  the  Constitution  and  laws  of  the  country  have  se 
cured  to  the  cotton  planter  a  cheaper  labor  than  may  be  found 
in  other  pursuits,  and  so  far  may  be  said  to  have  afforded  a 
specific  protection  to  his  industry. 

The  first  three  items  in  this  enumeration  present  the  forms 
in  which  the  Government  has  extended  a  direct  protection  to 
cotton ;  the  remaining  items  indicate  the  advantages  which 
this  product  has  derived  less  directly  from  Government  inter 
ference,  though  in  sufficient  degree  from  that  source  to  justify 
us  in  referring  them  to  that  political  guardianship  which  we  de 
fine  protection.  Such  are  the  favors,  if  they  may  be  so  called — 
the  aids  they  certainly  are — which  have  been  bestowed  upon 


312  POLITICAL    PAPEK8. 

the  cultivation  of  this  valuable  product  of  our  agriculture.  I 
do  not  wish  to  see  these  favors  withdrawn,  these  aids  in  any 
degree  diminished  beyond  what  they  are  at  the  present  time. 
I  am  duly  sensible  of  the  great  value  of  this  branch  of  our 
industry,  and  will  always  be  found  among  those  who  claim  for 
it  the  care  of  the  national  councils  ;  but  I  cannot  fail  to  re 
mark  upon  the  spirit  with  which  those  States  which  chiefly 
cultivate  it  seek  to  advance  that  interest,  to  the  detriment  of 
all  others.  Not  content  with  what  they  receive,  they  unceas 
ingly  ask  for  more.  They  would  seem  to  demand  a  monopoly 
of  public  favor  ;  to  require  that  all  other  interests  in  the 
country  should  be  treated  as  secondary  to  theirs — even  sacri 
ficed  to  it,  if  need  be.  They  insist  that  mechanical  and  manu 
facturing  industry  shall  be  abandoned  for  their  profit ;  that 
wheat,  tobacco,  sugar,  and  every  other  cultivation,  shall  remain 
on  the  most  unfavorable  footing,  in  order  that  cotton  may 
thrive.  They  demand  cheap  food  and  cheap  clothing,  that 
their  gains  may  be  increased  ;  regardless  of  the  fact  that  they 
not  only  diminish  the  gains,  but  actually  break  up  the  employ 
ments,  of  large  portions  of  our  population,  as  much  entitled 
to  consideration  as  themselves. 

These  requisitions  strike  me  as  ungracious  from  the  cotton 
States,  towards  whom  so  good  a  feeling  has  ever  been  mani 
fested  in  the  administration  of  our  national  affairs.  They  are, 
in  fact,  ever  seeking  protection,  while  ostensibly  making  war 
against  it.; 

There  is  no  equality  or  reciprocity  between  this  interest 
and  others.  They  insist  that  we  shall  maintain  the  best  mar 
kets  in  the  world  for  their  product,  and  be  content  with  the 
worst  markets  for  all  other  products.  They  say,  let  us  alone 
— which  means,  preserve  that  policy  which  insures  to  us  Eng 
land  and  France  as  purchasers  of  cotton,  and  keeps  your 
wheat  and  tobacco  at  home.  This  is  a  compendium  of  their 
notions  of  free  trade. 

The  interest  employed  in  the  culture  of  cotton  is  the  an 
tagonist  of  every  other  domestic  interest.  If  other  agricul- 


TITE    PROTECTIVE    SYSTEM.  313 

tural  products  were  received  abroad  in  payment  for  our  im 
ports,  cotton  would  decline  in  value,  and  the  cotton  grower 
would  then  be  unfriendly  to  such  products.  His  present  aim 
is  to  overthrow  the  manufacturing  industry  of  the  nation. 
Why  ?  Because,  in  proportion  as  we  supply  our  wants  at  home, 
we  lessen  our  demand  for  the  manufactures  of  England  and 
France  ;  and,  consequently,  so  far  disable  the  English  and 
French  trader  to  pay  for  cotton.  The  effect  is  a  proportionate 
decline  in  the  price  of  cotton,  and  the  necessity  of  cultivating 
less  of  it.  The  same  effect  would  follow  a  large  export  of 
breadstuffs,  which,  being  paid  for  in  foreign  manufactures, 
would  take  off  so  much  of  the  fund  applicable  to  the  purchase 
of  cotton  ;  and  thus,  if  the  cotton  interest  should  succeed  in 
destroying  our  domestic  manufacture,  its  next  effort  would  be 
against  the  agricultural  staples  of  the  grain-growing  States, 
supposing  that  those  staples  should  ever  be  received  by  the 
manufacturing  nations  of  Europe. 

I  do  not  say  it  in  any  terms  of  reproach,  but  as  a  truth 
which  has  connection  with  the  argument,  that  the  cotton  in 
terest  has  a  tendency,  to  some  extent,  as  it  is  now  circum 
stanced,  to  become  an  anti-American  interest ;  and  that  it  has 
no  other  guard  against  this  tendency  but  the  patriotism — of 
which  I  have  no  doubt,  and  in  which  I  freely  confide — of  its 
cultivators.  I  speak  of  it  only  as  a  concern  of  trade,  apart 
from  the  moral  considerations^which  will  ever  induce  me  to 
trust  in  the  ardent  love  of  country  which  I  am  sure  animates 
the  whole  population  of  the  South.  In  this  view,  I  repeat 
that  the  cotton  interest,  in  its  present  relations,  has  an  induce 
ment  to  look  to  the  prosperity  of  its  foreign  customers,  as  of 
more  concern  to  it  than  the  economical  welfare  of  our  own 
country.  It  has  something  approaching  to  a  monopoly  in 
European  markets,  and  finds  its  gains  in  their  advancement ; 
it  connects  its  wealth  with  the  success  of  the  trade  of  foreign 
nations,  and  therefore  turns  its  desires  towards  the  same  ob 
ject  ;  it  has  no  direct  concern  in  the  promotion  of  our  com 
merce  or  navigation  ;  it  is  hostile  to  our  manufactures  and 
14 


314  POLITICAL    PAPEJKS. 

handicrafts,  upon  a  mistaken  theory  of  self-interest ;  it  readily 
imbibes  and  preaches  the  doctrines  of  free-trade,  as  they  are 
taught  by  those  with  whom  it  deals,  and  in  no  wise  doubts  the 
sincerity  of  these  teachings ;  it  looks  with  jealousy  at  the  in 
creasing  prosperity  of  all  other  employments  in  the  country : 
it  is  insulated  from  all  other  pursuits  ;  it  is  perpetually  rest 
less,  under  the  apprehension  of  a  change  of  policy,  and  would 
rejoice  to  have  affairs  regulated  according  to  the  scheme  of  the 
act  of  1833,  as  that  act  contemplated  they  should  be  in  1842 
— that  is  to  say,  upon  a  basis  that  would  paralyze  almost  every 
other  occupation  in  the  country. 

These  are  its  present  tendencies  and  opinions.  But  let  in 
foreign  competition  upon  it  ;  let  India,  for  instance,  or  Brazil, 
or  Texas,  deprive  it  of  its  preference  in  the  foreign  market,  and 
it  would  immediately  become,  as  in  1816,  a  sturdy  American 
interest,  fraught  to  the  full  with  American  feeling  and  purpose. 

After  all,  we  may  inquire  what  has  the  South  gained  since 
the  Government  adopted  the  policy  which  she  has  recom 
mended  ?  For  almost  ten  years,  we  have  had  the  nearest 
approximation  to  free  trade  which  has  ever  been  attempted 
by  any  nation.  One-half  of  all  our  imports  have  been  actually 
free.  We  have  had  no  tonnage  duties  ;  they  were  repealed 
in  1830.  We  have  opened  reciprocal  freedom  of  navigation  to 
more  than  one-half  of  the  nations  with  which  we  trade.  The 
duties  (upon  such  commodities  as  paid  any)  have  been  sinking, 
year  after  year,  towards  the  lowest  revenue  standard  ;  indeed, 
they  had  fallen  below  that  standard,  and  the  Government  has, 
for  some  years  past,  been  without  adequate  revenue  to  meet 
its  expenses.  What  has  been  the  effect  of  all  these  improve 
ments — as,  in  deference  to  the  free-trade  theory,  we  must  call 
them  ?  I  might  answer  in  one  word — bankruptcy. 

Our  system  has  been  intrinsically  mischievous — unpatriotic, 
un-American.  We  have  stimulated  and  encouraged  foreign 
labor  to  excess  ;  we  have  refused  to  encourage  American,  lest 
it  might  interfere  with  the  foreign.  We  have  used  all  our  art 
to  make  a  market  for  European  operatives  ;  we  have  declined 


THE    PROTECTIVE    SYSTEM.  315 

to  do  this  favor  for  our  own.  Our  policy  seems  to  have  had 
two  leading  objects  : 

First,  the  increase  of  foreign  manufactures  ; 

Second,  the  increase  of  the  cultivation  of  cotton. 

The  consequence  which  has  followed  our  endeavors  is, 
that  both  are  overdone.  Our  markets  have  been  glutted  with 
foreign  merchandise  ;  our  cotton  fields  have  been  overstocked. 
The  producers  on  both  sides  have  been  losers.  Goods  have 
fallen  to  an  unprecedented  point  of  depression  ;  cotton  has 
shared  the  same  fate.  We  suffer  in  each  direction  from  ex 
cessive  production.  Our  policy  has  systematically  cramped 
all  other  American  products.  They  have  but  few  markets 
allowed  them  abroad ;  and  we  have  adopted  measures  to  deny 
them  a  market  at  home,  by  aiming  a  blow  at  our  manufactures. 
Thus  we  have  injured  both  agriculture  and  mechanical  art. 
Commerce  could  not  but  share  in  these  disasters,  nor  could 
the  currency  possibly  escape  disorder  and  depreciation.  These 
are  the  results  of  our  ten  years  of  free-trade  ;  these  the  fruits 
of  that  political  philosophy  which  has  been  enforced  upon  the 
nation  by  all  the  talent,  influence  and  zeal  of  the  South. 

The  act  of  the  last  session,  I  trust,  is  the  herald  of  a  better 
state  of  things.  The  influence  of  that  act  has  not  yet  begun 
to  be  felt.  We  have  been  too  deeply  stricken  by  the  embar 
rassments  of  the  late  system  to  make  a  quick  recovery.  Yet 
now,  before  that  act  has  exercised  its  remedial  efficacy,  we  are 
threatened  with  its  repeal,  and  a  return  to  all  the  infatuations 
of  our  former  policy. 

When  is  this  war  upon  Labor  to  cease  ?  This  is  a  ques 
tion  to  be  answered  by  the  working  men  themselves.  The 
means  of  terminating  it  are  in  their  hands  ;  they  have  the 
casting  vote.  They  have  permitted  themselves  to  be  divided 
by  the  arts  of  politicians  ;  and  a  large  and  active  portion  of 
their  body  have  been  found,  at  times,  enlisted  in  support  of 
the  policy  against  which  this  letter  is  intended  to  remonstrate. 
Surely,  the  experience  we  have  lately  had  is  sufficient  to  con 
vince  them  of  the  necessity  of  a  change  !  I  venture  to  affirm 


316  POLITICAL    PAPERS. 

that  we  shall  never  see  the  prosperity  of  the  country  put  upon 
a  safe  foundation,  until  we  adopt  a  system  of  measures  which 
shall  effectively  protect  our  home  industry.  We  have  a  WORLD 
of  our  own ;  let  us  have  a  SYSTEM  of  our  own.  Upon  this 
question  there  ought  to  be  no  equivocal  opinion.  Those  who 
are  in  favor  of  the  protective  system — and  by  that  I  mean  a 
system  resting  on  stronger  foundations  than  the  incidental  sup 
port  of  American  industry — should  take  their  stand  politically 
upon  it.  They  should  be  known  from  their  adversaries  ;  should 
maintain  their  cause  at  the  ballot-box — maintain  it  as  a  great 
paramount  principle,  worth  struggling  for,  and  not  to  be  ob 
scured  or  lost  in  smaller  party  divisions.  If  we  take  our 
stand  upon  this  ground,  we  cannot  but  prevail.  Succeeding 
in  this  fundamental  measure,  we  shall  proceed  with  better 
heart  and  better  hopes  to  the  remaining  great  questions  of 
currency  and  credit  which  await  our  care. 
BALTIMORE,  October  25,  1842. 


A   DEFENCE    OF   THE   WHIGS.  31' 


DEFENCE  OF  THE  WHIGS. 

PART  I. 
THE  WHIG  PARTY  I  ITS  ORIGIN,  ITS  CONSTANCY,  ITS  SUCCESS. 

To  the  Whigs  of  the  Twenty-Seventh  Congress,  whose  fidelity  to  their  trust, 
diligence  in  the  performance  of  the  most  arduous  duties,  and  firmness  through  a 
period  of  unexampled  trial  and  disappointment,  have  won  them  the  applause  of  a 
patriotic  people,  this  defence  is  inscribed  in  testimony  of  the  esteem  of  their  com 
rade  October  25,  1843.— DEDICATION. 

I. 

WHAT    IS    PROPOSED? 

IN  the  struggles  of  political  parties  it  generally  occurs  that 
the  purposes  of  the  contestants  are  misrepresented  in  im 
portant  particulars  or  misunderstood. 

The  Whig  Party,  during  the  last  fourteen  years — reckoning 
from  the  4th  of  March,  1829 — has  been  misrepresented  or  mis 
understood  more  than  usually  falls  to  the  lot  of  parties.  My 
endeavor,  in  what  follows,  will  be  to  set  this  matter  right. 

No  party  ever  arose  in  any  country  with  juster  aims  or  more 
patriotic  effort,  then  the  Whig  Party  of  the  United  States.  It 
fought  the  Battle  of  Freedom  in  the  Revolution :  it  has  never 
faltered  in  its  duty  since.  From  the  beginning  of  our  national 
existence  to  this  day,  by  whatever  name  it  has  been  called,  it 
has  been  the  consistent,  faithful  assertor  of  the  principles  of 
free  government. 

Through  twelve  years  of  continued  defeats, — during  which 
time  a  power  in  this  nation,  unfriendly  to  popular  liberty,  was 
growing  every  day  more  formidable,  and  the  Executive,  usurp 
ing  the  name  of  the  Representative  of  the  democracy,  was  busi 
ly  assailing  the  bulwarks  which  were  built  up  tc  guard  the  rights 


318  POLITICAL    PAPERS. 

of  the  people — the  Whig  Party,  overpowered  by  numbers,  pro 
scribed,  for  the  most  part,  from  all  share  in  the  administration 
of  affairs,  still  faithfully  maintained  its  post  and  fought  for  Pop 
ular  Privilege,  with  the  same  devotion  that  it  fought  in  the 
gloomest  days  of  the  War  of  Independence. 

Its  constancy  and  fidelity  won  it  the  victory  of  1840. 

The  fruits  of  that  victory  were  shown  in  the  zeal  with  which 
the  Whigs  made  haste  to  redeem  every  pledge  they  had  given. 
How  the  full  benefit  of  that  redemption  of  pledges  was  wrested 
from  the  people  ;  how  it  has  fallen  out  that  the  victory  has  not 
been  of  as  permanent  and  extensive  good  as  the  country  had 
a  right  to  expect;  how  it  is  that  power  has  lapsed  again  into 
the  hands  from  which  it  was  rescued,  is  a  problem  that  may  be 
solved  by  recurring  to  the  history  of  every  cause  that  has  been 
betrayed  by  its  leader.  Some  explanation  of  this  disaster  will 
occupy  a  portion  of  the  pages  which  ensue. 

Against  open  foes  the  Whigs  have  no  complaint  to  make. 
They  meet  these  on  the  field  of  contest  forewained,  forearmed  ; 
prepared  for  the  strife  and  its  incidents.  But  they  have  felt  a 
touching  grief  in  the  destiny  which  has  admonished  them  to  arm 
against  perfidy  in  their  own  camp  ;  against  an  enemy  nursed  in 
their  own  bosom.  The  saying  is  old,  but  it  has  a  melancholy 
appropriateness  to  their  misfortune — there  is  a  deeper  anguish 
in  the  wound  when  the  arrow  that  inflicts  it  is  feathered  from 
our  own  wing. 

The  Whigs  have  ever  striven  for  the  accomplishment  of  a 
great  good  to  the  country.  It  is  not  true,  as  their  adversaries 
have  attempted  to  make  the  world  believe,  that  the  hope  of 
office  or  the  chance  of  favor  was  the  motive  to  their  exertions. 
So  long  a  war  were  but  a  weary  road  to  preferment  which 
might  be  so  cheaply  got,  at  any  time,  by  turning  recreant  to  the 
cause.  Your  office-hunter  has  no  great  patience  in  a  settled 
minority.  Never  was  there,  in  truth,  presented  a  spectacle  of 
greater  constancy  under  defeat,  or  of  victory  so  little  sullied 
by  selfish  aims.  We  had  our  camp  followers,  it  is  true,  thick 
ening  somewhat  in  our  ranks  as  the  day  of  our  success  drew  nigh. 


A    DEFENCE    OF    TTTE    WHIGS.  319 

These  might  have  been  seen  importunately  stripping  the  dead. 
But  at  the  first  sign  of  a  reverse  they  left  us,  and  now  compose 
the  main  body  of  that  forlorn  and  anxious  troop  that  call  them 
selves  the  friends  of  the  Administration. 

It  may  be  accounted  an  element  of  strength  in  the  Whig 
organization,  that  these  have  been  winnowed  from  the  ranks  to 
which  they  never  brought  true  hearts,  and  to  whose  lofty  pur 
pose  they  have  ever  been  ungenial.  Experience  has  taught 
us  to  beware  of  all  clamorous  expectants  of  place.  The  lesson 
will  not  be  lost. 

In  the  antagonism  of  honest  opinion  there  is  abundant 
space  for  the  embodiment  of  parties.  Such  division  as  springs 
from  this  source  is  a  fair  and  useful  topic  for  discussion.  My 
aim  is  partly  to  comment  upon  the  history  of  opinions  which 
have  grown  up  in  the  country  regarding  the  conduct  of  public 
affairs.  I  wish  to  show  that  those  entertained  by  the  Whigs 
have  been  genuine  and  eminently  patriotic.  1  do  not  deny 
that  the  opinions  of  our  adversaries  have  been,  in  great  part, 
genuine  and  patriotic.  There  are  many  opinions,  however, 
set  forth  by  our  opponents  and  carried  into  the  administra 
tion  of  the  Government,  which  are  not  entitled  to  this  com 
mendation  :  many,  besides,  that,  whether  honest  or  not,  are 
intrinsically  wrong  and  productive  of  great  mischiefs  in  our 
Republic  :  many  that  have  been  dictated  by  selfish  schemes 
and  propagated  to  advance  the  interests  of  individuals  and 
classes,  to  the  detriment  of  the  large  community  of  the  people. 
My  design  is  also  to  point  these  out. 

II. 

BASIS   OF    PARTIES. FRIENDS     OF     THE     EXECUTIVE. FRIENDS 

OF    THE    LEGISLATURE. PREROGATIVE    AND    PRIVILEGE. 

We  may  discern  in  the  progress  of  all  Representative  Gov 
ernment  professing  to  be  established  on  the  basis  of  popular 
freedom,  two  parties  fundamentally  distinguished  from  each  oth 
er  by  their  views  as  to  the  nature  of  delegated  power.  These 


320  POLITICAL    PAVERS. 

parties  are  more  or  less  developed  at  different  epochs,  as  the 
events  of  the  day  have  furnished  them  excitement. 

In  English  history  they  have  sometimes  been  denominated 
the  Court  Party  and  the  Country  Party,  but  more  generally  by 
the  names  of  Tories  and  Whigs. 

The  Court  Party  is  chiefly  distinguished  as  the  friends  of 
the  Executive  Power. 

The  Country  Party,  without  being  classed  in  the  category 
of  actual  enemies  to  that  Power,  are  noted  for  their  distrust  of  it. 

This  is  a  division  of  parties  which  naturally  grows  out  of 
the  constitution  of  the  public  mind,  and  is  as  much  native  to 
our  Republican  Government  as  to  the  Monarchy  of  Great 
Britain. 

All  experience  has  taught  us  that  the  possessor  of  the  author 
ity  and  patronage  of  magistracy  may  find  it  convenient  to  employ 
these  resources  for  the  advancement  of  himself  or  his  friends. 
A  knowledge  of  this  seduces  many  to  become  the  champions 
and  apologists  of  the  Executive  in  every  country.  There  are 
designing  men,  there  are  corrupt  men,  poor  men,  or  idle  men, 
who  hope  to  find  in  the  good  will  of  the  ruling  magistrate,  the 
means  of  promoting  their  schemes  or  of  adding  to  their  com 
forts  :  they  become,  therefore,  his  dependents  both  in  opin 
ion  and  conduct. 

There  are  others,  quite  honest,  who  conscientiously  believe 
that  a  strong  Executive  is  absolutely  necessary  to  maintain 
order  in  the  State.  For  this  reason  they  also  take  sides  with 
the  Executive. 

These  two  descriptions  of  men  combine  to  enlist  a  large 
support  among  the  people  in  favor  of  the  administrative  arm 
of  the  government. 

Their  opponents,  fearing  this  administrative  arm,  and  believ 
ing  that  the  safety  of  free  institutions  is  best  secured  by  watch 
ing  and  restraining  the  Executive,  disdain  to  seek  its  favor  by 
any  act  of  adulation  or  by  any  relaxation  of  their  distrust. 
These  naturally  put  great  faith  in  the  National  Legislature. 
They  see  in  the  Executive  the  fountain  of  political  honors,  rank, 


A   DEFENCE    OF    THE    WHIGS.  321 

emolument,  consideration  with  the  world  :  that  it  is  prone  to 
be  selfish,  ambitious,  crafty :  that  it  has  a  motive  to  reward 
subserviency  ;  that  in  dispensing  the  offices  necessary  to  con 
duct  government,  it  may  so  dispense  them  as  to  gratify  those 
who  defend  and  applaud  it :  that  it  may  convert  public  ser 
vants  into  political  minions  ;  that  it  may  work  in  secret  and 
corrupt  enterprises,  and  gloss  them  over  with  pretences  of  pub 
lic  good.  In  all  these  attributes  and  propensities  of  Executive 
power  they  find  strong  motive  to  regard  it  with  jealousy. 

On  the  other  hand,  they  see  in  the  Legislature  none  of 
these  attributes.  Public  liberty  is  very  seldom  damaged  by 
the  activity  of  a  Representative  Legislature  ;  though  it  is  just 
to  say  that  history  is  not  without  its  example  of  a  wicked  fren 
zy  in  this  law-making  power.  Such  example,  happily,  is  rare. 
In  the  main,  not  from  the  active  purpose  of  Legislative  bod 
ies  has  liberty  sustained  hurt :  but  from  their  tardiness  some 
times,  from  their  dissensions  sometimes,  and  from  their  omis 
sions,  mischief  has  arisen.  The  imperfection  of  the  Legisla 
ture  is  in  its  occasional  failure,  whether  from  ignorance,  division, 
or  sloth,  to  do  what  the  public  good  requires  ;  very  seldom  in 
corrupt  action  or  deliberate  wickedness  of  object.  It  has  no 
personal  ambition,  vanity  or  selfishness,  because,  in  fact,  it  has 
no  person,  but  is  an  aggregate  of  many  persons,  and  these  of 
many  minds.  Neither  has  it  patronage  to  gratify  a  love 
of  making  dependents.  Two  or  three  hundred  representa 
tives  may  make  bad  laws,  or  fail  to  make  good  ones,  but  they 
have  scant  motive  to  natter  any  man's  pride,  stimulate  any 
man's  usurpation.  The  usurper  always  begins  by  turning  the 
Legislature  out  of  doors,  knowing  that  while  they  are  free  he 
is  not. 

Their  special  duty  is  to  become  acquainted  with  the  condi 
tion  of  the  body  politic  ;  to  inquire  into  what  is  done  in  every 
department :  to  inspect  every  public  servant  :  to  look  into  ev 
ery  corner  and  crevice  of  public  service  and  learn  what  is 
doing  there  ;  and  then  to  report  all  that  they  have  seen,  heard, 
learned.  What  they  find  out  of  place  it  is  their  duty  to  set  in 


322  POLITICAL    PA  PEES. 

place  ;  what  knavery  they  suspect,  to  proclaim  ;  what  they  dis 
cover  to  be  weak,  to  make  strong. 

To  this  end  they  are  called,  and  are,  the  Grand  Inquest  of 
the  nation  ;  are  clothed  with  all  power  to  inquire  and  report ; 
are  empowered  to  make  laws  to  remedy  what  is  defective, 
repeal  what  is  hurtful,  punish  what  is  delinquent.  Thus  free 
Legislation  is  built  upon  free  Inquiry. 

Upon  these  grounds  of  favor  towards  Executive  and  Legis 
lative  Power  have  parties  divided  ever  since  men  have  prac 
tised  a  representative  government. 

The  people  have  taken  part  sometimes  with  the  one  some 
times  with  the  other  •  generally  as  their  passions  have  been 
more  or  less  skilfully  excited  by  the  one  or  the  other. 

In  the  days  of  Charles  the  First  the  great  body  of  the  Eng 
lish  people  went  with  the  Parliament,  and  stood  up  for  Privilege 
against  Prerogative.  A  turn  of  the  wheel  of  fortune  exhibited 
them,  in  a  few  years  afterward,  applauding  Cromwell  for 
silencing  the  voice  of  a  free  representation,  and  justifying  his 
assumption  of  prerogatives  more  dangerous  than  those  for 
which  Charles  had  suffered.  At  the  Restoration,  the  Execu 
tive  Power  found  its  chief  support  in  the  popular  advocacy  ; 
and  it  was  not  long  after  this,  that  the  great  champions  of 
Privilege  against  Prerogative,  Russell  and  Sidney,  suffered  on 
the  scaffold,  almost  unwept  by  the  millions  of  Englishmen 
whose  descendants  now  turn  to  that  scaffold,  as  to  the  very  al 
tar  of  Liberty. 

Looking,  therefore,  to  the  strength  which  these  parties, — 
Court  and  Country,  as  I  have  called  them, — have  gained  from 
time  to  time,  and  from  their  nature  are  apt  to  gain,  it  may  be 
said  of  them  that  that  strength  depends  in  great  measure  upon 
the  intelligence,  and  talent  to  propagate  their  doctrines,  in  the 
political  leaders  who  give  tone  to  public  opinion ;  and  that 
they  who  from  supineness  or  from  incapacity,  are  content  to 
give  themselves  little  trouble  with  their  political  sentiments, 
and  to  take  them  at  second  hand,  will  still,  as  heretofore,  find 
themselves  ranged  on  the  side  of  Prerogative  or  Privilege, 


A    DEFENCE    OF    THE    WIITGS.  323 

will  belong  to  the  Court  or  Country  party,  will  be  Whigs  or 
Tories,  according  to  the  accidents  of  the  day,  or  as  they  may 
be  practised  upon  by  the  craft  of  those  who  have  an  interest 
in  giving  a  particular  ply  to  the  floating  public  opinion  of  the 
time.  Let  this  reflection  admonish  us,  that  every  citizen  of  a 
free  government  should  study  public  affairs  for  himself,  think 
and  determine  for  himself. 

The  Revolution  of  1688,  famous  in  British  history  for  the 
overthrow  of  the  Stuarts  and  the  introduction  of  the  House 
of  Brunswick  to  the  throne,  gave  a  prominent  distinction  to 
this  division  of  parties.  The  Whigs  of  the  reign  of  William 
the  Third  and  of  Queen  Anne  are  notable,  above  all  other 
things,  for  their  jealousy  of  Executive  and  their  faith  in  Leg 
islative  Power.  They  have  done  more  to  establish  British 
Liberty,  and  by  deduction  from  that,  more  to  establish  Ameri 
can  Liberty,  than  any  other  political  organization  of  modern 
times.  I  need  not  recount  their  struggles  to  clip  the  wings 
of  Prerogative  and  enlarge  the  limits  of  Privilege,  which  give 
so  much  interest  to  the  Parliamentary  history  of  that  time. 
The  principle  of  specific  annual  appropriation  ;  the  restraint 
of  members  of  Parliament  against  holding  office,  under  the 
crown  ;  the  triennial  Parliament  and  annual  meeting  ;  the 
regulation  of  trials  for  treason  ;  the  protection  of  the  liberty 
of  the  Press, — among  many  other  improvements  of  the  prac 
tice  and  principles  of  the  British  Constitution,  bear  witness  to 
the  enlightened  estimate  of  human  happiness  and  due  appre 
ciation  of  rational  freedom  made  in  that  day  by  the  Whigs. 

It  is  not  to  be  supposed  that  these  men  reached  at  once 
the  most  perfect  arrangement  of  the  sureties  for  civil  liberty. 
But  with  great  sagacity  they  announced  the  fundamental  doc 
trines  upon  which  that  liberty  has  been  subsequently  built  up. 
They  were  in  a  perpetual  struggle  to  wrest  from  Prerogative 
what  they  deemed  unsafe  appendages  to  Executive  power,  and 
to  strengthen  Parliament  with  all  the  faculties  requisite  to 
render  it  a  vigilant  and  effective  guardian  of  popular  rights. 
The  Tories  labored  on  the  other  side,  to  impress  the  nation 


324-  POLITICAL    PAPERS. 

with  the  belief  that  Government  could  only  be  healthfully  ad 
ministered  by  a  hand  strong  enough  to  overbear  and  repress 
what  was  deemed  the  licentiousness  of  the  people  and  their 
representatives. 

The  Whig  Party  succeeded — not  in  preserving  their  ascen 
dency  in  the  councils  of  the  nation — but  in  stamping  their 
principles  upon  the  British  Constitution.  Through  many 
reverses  and  mischances  they  won  success.  Often  baffled  and 
turned  back,  always  misrepresented  or  misunderstood,  fre 
quently  derided  and  reviled,  and  but  seldom  in  the  actual 
administration  of  affairs — still  the  progress  of  their  principles 
was  onward,  and  they  had  the  satisfaction  to  see  the  cause  of 
human  liberty  gradually  intrenching  itself  behind  the  bulwarks 
they  had  erected  :  even  to  witness  this  consummation  at  the 
moments  when  party  rage  and  the  fanaticism  of  political  zeal 
excluded  them  from  all  share  in  the  management  of  Govern 
ment — a  noble  homage  to  the  wisdom  and  fidelity  of  their 
labors  ! 

Not  without  hostility  from  the  people,  in  whose  behalf  they 
had  so  long  and  faithfully  toiled,  was  this  conquest  achieved. 
It  is  one  degree  of  virtue  to  pursue,  with  steady  sagacity,  good 
ends,  when  all  the  means  are  at  hand  and  the  mass  of  man 
kind  look  on,  approve,  and  assist :  it  is  a  still  higher  degree 
of  virtue  to  persevere  in  a  good  work,  when  means  are  scant 
and  they  who  should  be  allies  and  partners  in  the  endeavor, 
are  indifferent  spectators :  far  nobler  than  this  to  persevere 
when  the  beneficiaries  of  our  toil  are  open  opponents  or  vin 
dictive  foes.  History  is  full  of  instruction  and  admonition  to 
the  great  community  of  every  nation,  how  deep  is  the  stake 
of  human  happiness  dependant  upon  a  just  conviction  by  the 
people, 

First,  OF  what  is  true  liberty,  and 

Second,  Of  what  are  the  real  aims  and  personal  objects 
of  those  who  climb  to  the  head  of  a  party. 


A    DEFENCE    OF    THE    WHIGS.  325 

III. 
AMERICAN    WHIGS. THE    MADISONIAN    PLATFORM. 

Our  own  Revolution  of  1776,  which  a  careful  student  of 
political  history  may  trace  to  that  of  1688,  brought  to  view 
the  same  division  of  parties.  We  had  our  Tories  and  Whigs, 
our  friends  of  Prerogative  and  our  friends  of  Privilege.  Again 
the  battle  was  fought  and  won  by  the  Whigs. 

The  war  of  the  Revolution  was  waged  against  the  encroach 
ments  of  Executive  Power.  Witness  that  beadroll  of  com 
plaints  set  forth  in  the  Manifesto  of  Congress  declaring  our 
Independence  : 

"  He  has  refused  his  assent  to  laws  the  most  wholesome 
and  necessary  for  the  public  good. 

"He  has  forbidden  his  governors  to  pass  laws  of  imme 
diate  and  pressing  importance,  unless  suspended  in  their 
operation  until  his  assent  should  be  obtained  ;  and  when  so 
suspended  he  has  utterly  neglected  to  attend  to  them. 

"He  has  refused  to  pass  other  laws  for  the  accommodation 
of  large  districts  of  people,  unless  those  people  would  relin 
quish  the  right  of  representation  in  the  Legislature,  a  right  in 
estimable  to  them  and  formidable  to  tyrants  only. 

"  He  has  called  together  Legislative  bodies  at  places  un 
usual,  uncomfortable  and  distant  from  the  depository  of  their 
public  records,  for  the  sole  purpose  of  fatiguing  them  into 
compliance  with  his  measures. 

"  He  has  dissolved  Representative  houses  repeatedly,  for 
opposing  with  manly  firmness  his  invasions  on  the  rights  of 
the  people. 

"  He  has  refused  for  a  long  time  after  such  dissolutions  to 
cause  others  to  be  elected,  whereby  the  Legislative  powers, 
incapable  of  annihilation,  have  returned  to  the  people  at  large 
for  their  exercise,  the  state  remaining,  in  the  mean  time,  ex 
posed  to  the  dangers  of  invasion  from  without  and  convulsions 
within. 


320  POLITICAL    PAPERS. 

"  He  has  obstructed  the  administration  of  justice  by  re 
fusing  his  assent  to  laws  for  establishing  judiciary  powers. 

"  He  has  erected  a  multitude  of  new  offices,  and  sent  hither 
swarms  of  new  officers  to  harass  our  people  and  eat  out  our 
substance. 

"  He  has  kept  among  us  in  times  of  peace  standing  armies 
without  the  consent  of  our  Legislatures." 

These,  and  others  of  the  like  character,  are  the  grievances 
for  which  the  Whigs  took  up  arms.  The  purpose  of  that  war 
was  to  rid  the  nation  of  this  domineering  Executive,  and  se 
cure  to  themselves  a  free  Legislature. 

Before  separation  or  independence  entered  the  thoughts 
of  our  people,  the  contest  stood  substantially  upon  the  same 
ground, — the  Privilege  of  a  Representative  Legislature  against 
the  Executive  Prerogative.  It  was  in  fact  a  revival  of  the  old 
quarrel  of  Parliament  with  the  Stuarts  on  the  question  of 
loans,  benevolences  and  ship  money. 

Many  men  of  the  colonies  in  that  da}7,  whom  we  must 
admit  to  have  been  honest  and  attached  to  the  country,  did 
not  concur  in  this  general  zeal  against  Executive  Encroach 
ment.  Many,  besides,  who  held  office  under  the  crown,  or 
who  hoped  for  office  under  the  crown,  saw  no  danger  to  public 
liberty  in  the  restraints  put  upon  domestic  legislation.  They 
who  hold  office  and  they  who  expect  it,  will  always  be  the  last 
in  any  country  to  see  danger  in  the  Executive  power. 

These  opponents  to  the  Revolution  principles  were  the  To 
ries  of  that  day.  They  were  vanquished  by  the  Whigs. 

When  the  war  came  to  an  end,  it  may  be  said  there  was 
but  one  party  in  the  country.  The  Whig  principle  was  estab 
lished  and  all  resistance  to  it  was  withdrawn.  The  next  task  of 
those  who  had  conducted  the  war,  was  to  erect  a  form  of  gov 
ernment  which  should  embody  the  political  doctrines  of  the 
Revolution.  Every  man  then  desired  to  see  a  government  so 
constructed  as  to  secure  the  faculty  of  administering  to  the 
happiness  of  the  people  with  the  least  possible  hazard  from 
Executive  power. 


A    DEFENCE    OF   THE    WHIGS.  327 

The  first  general  conception  of  a  guarantee  against  oppres 
sion,  and  upon  which  there  was  no  division  of  opinion,  was  in 
a  strong  Representative  Legislature. 

As  to  the  amount  of  power  which  might  be  confided  to  an 
Executive — upon  that  point  all  the  old  jealousy  was  awakened. 
In  all  the  embarrassments  growing  out  of  the  old  Confedera 
tion,  this  fear  of  the  Executive  ever  stood  in  the  way  of  change. 
In  all  the  discussions  upon  the  formation  of  the  Constitution 
of  1787,  this  fear  of  the  Executive  was  the  chief  stumbling- 
block.  I  will  not  stop  to  indicate  the  points  of  these  discus 
sions.  They  are  common  history. 

There  were  enlightened  patriots  of  that  epoch  upon  both 
sides  of  the  question.  No  longer  divided  in  opinion  as  Whig 
and  Tory,  they  were,  nevertheless,  as  friends  of  a  popular  Rep 
resentative  Republic,  divided  in  opinion  as  to  the  quantum  of 
power  which  it  was  safe  to  trust  even  to  an  Elective  Republi 
can  Magistrate. 

It  is  impossible  that  men  could  be  more  honest  or  more  in 
earnest  than  these.  Then,  there  was  a  question  of  the  conflict 
between  Federal  and  State  power ;  a  question  which  is  not  yet 
settled,  though  fast  growing  to  be  so. 

Naturally  some  men's  minds  incline  towards  Prerogative, 
from  an  idea  that  the  popular  impulses  require  to  be  checked 
by  a  strong  hand.  A  powerful  party  grew  up  in  the  nation 
upon  this  opinion.  The  same  habit  of  thinking  which  made 
men  friendly  to  the  Federal,  as  distinguished  from  the  State 
power,  inclined  their  minds  to  the  fancy  of  a  strong  Executive  ; 
and  thus  it  came  that  the  Federalists  were,  to  a  certain  extent, 
identified  with  the  supporters  of  the  Executive  power. 

Then  again,  naturally,  and  by  complexion  of  character, 
many  men  run  into  extremes  in  regard  to  the  removing  of  all 
restraints  upon  popular  action  ;  and  they  fall  into  mischievous 
conclusions  in  that  direction  of  opinion.  The  French  Revolu 
tion,  whose  fires  were  discernible,  even  within  this  remote  hori 
zon  of  ours,  witnessed  some  of  these  extremes  and  taught  them 
to  our  citizens. 


328  POLITICAL    PAPERS. 

Thus  a  contest  arose  of  ultraisms  in  our  political  schools  ; 
and,  for  years,  the  harmony  of  public  administration  was  dis 
turbed,  and  sometimes  embittered  by  the  strife  of  parties,  which 
having,  in  the  main,  no  other  than  patriotic  aims,  maintained 
their  antagonist  positions  without  material  injury  to  any  in 
terest  in  the  State.  In  fact,  being  nearly  balanced  in  power 
and  equally  distinguished  in  talent,  they  promoted  that  degree 
of  watchfulness  of  each  other  which,  with  good  reason,  has  been 
said  to  be  a  surety  for  the  healthful  administration  of  affairs. 

In  this  strife  the  active  politicians,  only,  took  a  deep  inter 
est.  The  great  body  of  the  nation  felt  secure  in  the  conviction 
that  the  public  liberty  was  in  good  hands.  Some  flatterers  of 
the  administration,  some  incumbents  and  many  expectants  of 
office  were,  doubtless,  active — as  such  persons  always  are — to 
give  the  greatest  degree  of  significancy  to  the  opinions  of  their 
party.  On  the  other  hand,  some  demagogues,  seeking  favor 
from  the  great  body  of  electors,  and  lauding  the  people  in  that 
fulsome  phrase  which  only  demagogues  will  utter,  and  which  is 
never  employed  by  a  man  who  has  a  true  respect  for  the  good 
sense  of  his  fellow-citizens — on  their  side  strove,  by  like  de 
vices,  to  exalt  the  value  of  party  opinion.  Each  of  these  fo 
mented  division  ;  exaggerated  the  weight  of  their  political  influ 
ence  ;  magnified  frivolous  distinctions  ;  engendered,  no  doubt, 
much  useless  hatred. 

But  in  the  midst  of  this  strife,  looking  on,  not  anxiously 
caring  for  the  issue,  but  still  watchful  of  events,  was  a  large 
mass  of  substantial  citizens,  deeply  implicated  in  all  that  con 
cerned  the  prosperity  of  the  country  ;  men  having  inheritances 
of  good  name  to  support ;  having  close  alliance  with  all  that 
constituted  the  strength,  the  wealth,  the  labor,  the  success,  the 
glory  of  their  country  ;  the  men  employed  in  the  business  of 
this  nation,  and  who  hoped  to  hand  it  over  to  their  children  as 
something  to  be  proud  of — all  these  stood  by,  caring  something, 
perhaps,  for  the  ascendancy  of  the  parties  of  the  day,  but  car 
ing  more  that  the  generation  to  which  they  belonged  should  in 
no  jot  detract  from  or  impair  those  sacred  principles  of  human 


A   DEFENCE   OF   THE    WHIGS.  329 

right  and  civil  liberty  which  had  been  won  by  their  ancestors 
in  1688,  and  still  more  securely  knit  together  and  confirmed 
by  their  ancestors  of  1776. 

Thus,  in  no  visible  array  or  manifest  organization,  but  un- 
embodied  and  comparatively  in  repose,  the  Whigs  of  this  Union 
remained  spectators  of  events,  content  to  take  such  various  in 
terest  in  public  measures  as  the  passing  questions  of  the  time 
might  excite,  yet  but  little  inclined  to  party  agitation  as  long 
as  the  fundamental  Whig  principle  was  likely  to  sustain  no  det 
riment  in  the  conduct  of  those  at  the  head  of  affairs. 

Such  was  the  state  of  the  nation  toward  the  close  of  Mr. 
Madison's  administration.  There  had  been  turbulent  feeling 
before  this,  because  political  opinion  had  been  passing  through 
an  exciting  transition,  from  the  date  of  the  election  of  Mr.  Jef 
ferson  to  the  close  of  the  war,  and  many  hot  ferments  had  been 
engendered.  The  calm  and  philosophic  temper  of  Mr.  Madi 
son,  the  purity  of  his  character,  the  sincerity  of  his  patriotism, 
and  the  sagacity  of  his  intellect  had  inspired  universal  trust, 
except,  perhaps,  in  a  few  Federalists,  in  whose  minds  an  an 
cient  grudge  yet  rankled.  With  this  exception,  a  balmy  peace 
reigned  throughout  our  political  world.  The  extremes  of  Fed 
eralism  had  been  tempered  with  an  infusion  of  Democratic 
flavor ;  the  extremes  of  Democracy  had  been  melted  in  an 
amalgam  of  Federalism.  Both  were  the  better  for  it.  Above 
all,  the  Constitution  was  settled  ;  its  Whig  basis  strengthened  ; 
and  many  men  thought  that,  from  that  day,  it  was  a  book  in 
terpreted  and  certain.  Truly,  I  think  that  the  Constitution  of 
the  United  States,  as  expounded  and  practised  by  Marshall 
and  Madison,  is  the  very  Constitution  of  our  forefathers  !  I 
desire  no  farther  commentary  :  from  that  day  forth  it  has  been 
to  me  an  article  of  faith :  my  creed  therein  is  written. 

This  was  the  glory  of  Mr.  Madison's  administration,  that 
it  made  peace  between  parties  ;  that  it  established  the  true  im 
port  of  our  fundamental  law  ;  and  that  it  marked  out  the  ad 
ministrative  policy  of  this  people,  both  in  their  outward  rela 
tions  and  in  their  domestic  affairs.  The  Maclisonian  basis 


330  POLITICAL    PAPERS. 

of  the  American  Government  and  policy  may  be  regarded 
as  one  established  by  the  almost  universal  consent  of  the  coun 
try.  It  was  wise,  being  the  product  of  careful  thought  and  just 
consideration  of  the  temper  and  aims  of  our  people  ;  it  was 
likely  to  be  permanent,  because  it  grew  out  of  a  calm  and  dis 
passionate  state  of  public  feeling,  auspicious  to  durable  set 
tlements.  An  experience  of  twelve  years,  from  1816  to  1829, 
has  proved  it  to  be  eminently  calculated  to  advance  the  com 
fort,  the  prosperity,  and  the  strength  of  the  people. 

First.  It  settled  the  construction  and  practice  of  the  Con 
stitution  on  the  foundation  of  the  Whig  doctrines  :  this  con 
struction  and  practice  was  chiefly  manifested  in  the  high  re 
spect  and  confidence  of  the  nation  in  the  Legislative  power, 
and  the  scrupulous  adherence  of  the  Executive  to  its  orbit. 

Second.  It  settled  the  policy  of  the  Government.  Wit 
ness  these  measures : 

It  regulated  the  Currency  by  the  control  of  a  National  Bank, 
and,  through  this  instrumentality,  checked  and  finally  removed 
the  mischief  of  excessive  State  Banking. 

It  protected  the  Domestic  Industry  of  our  people,  by  the 
establishment  of  a  Tariff  of  Duties  specially  directed  to  that 
object. 

It  promoted  Internal  Improvements  in  the  nation,  by  giv 
ing  the  aid  of  government  to  useful  enterprises  which  were  be 
yond  the  capacity  of  individual  States  ;  a  policy  which,  if  it 
had  not  been  since  abandoned,  would  have  saved  the  country 
that  load  of  State  debt  which  has  become  of  late  almost  equal 
ly  our  misfortune  and  our  disgrace. 

It  enlarged  the  sphere  of  our  Commerce  and  Navigation, 
by  tendering  to  foreign  nations  reciprocal  privileges  of  trade 
restricted  within  certain  limits  defined  in  the  legislation  of  1815, 
and  in  the  Convention  of  London  of  that  year. 

It  devised  the  plan  for  paying  off  the  public  debt. 

It  placed  the  public  expenditures  upon  the  footing  of  a 
strict  economy. 

It   discountenanced    and  subdued  all  attempts  to  connect 


A    DEFENCE    OF   THE    WHIGS.  331 

office  with  the  means  of  political  influence  ;  and  left  the  public 
servant  free  from  that  odious  inquisition  into  his  opinions 
which  has  since  made  him  either  the  victim  or  the  confederate 
of  spies  and  informers. 

In  short,  its  whole  scheme  of  administration  was  national, 
American,  liberal  and  honorable.  It  infused  that  sentiment 
into  the  mind  of  the  people,  ^  and  rendered  them,  every 
where,  throughout  all  classes,  honorable,  high-minded,  and  pa 
triotic. 

This  was  the  inheritance  to  which  Mr.  Monroe,  and,  in  due 
succession,  Mr.  Adams  succeeded.  They  conscientiously  ad 
hered  to  this  truly  republican,  equal  and  beneficent  system  of 
administration.  The  consequence  was  a  progressive  increase 
in  every  element  of  national  happiness.  -  Under  the  working 
of  this  system  the  nation  gradually  arose  to  a  state  of  unexam 
pled  vigor.  The  havoc  of  the  war  was  slowly  but  surely  re 
paired.  The  currency,  from  a  state  of  extraordinary  derange 
ment,  was  brought  into  singular  purity.  Manufactures  and 
the  mechanic  arts  were  rapidly  trained  from  a  feeble  infancy 
to  a  robustness  almost  incredible.  Commerce  and  navigation 
were  increased  ;  the  war  debt  was  paid  ;  and  that  series  of  in 
ternal  improvements  begun  which,  however  they  may  have  in 
volved  those  who  constructed  them  in  debt,  are  worth  more  to 
this  Union  than  ten  times  the  cost  expended  upon  them.  They 
are  works  from  which  the  National  Treasury  should  never  have 
been  withheld  :  they  are  works  which  now  belong  more  to  the 
people  of  the  United  States  than  to  the  States  in  whose  bor 
ders  they  lie,  and  for  which  the  people  of  the  Union  are  equit 
ably  and  honorably  the  true  debtors  :  they  are  works  which, 
by  a  policy  as  cruel  as  it  was  un statesmanlike  were  ever 
committed  to  the  unassisted  enterprise  of  the  States. 

This  is  the  outline  of  the  Whig  doctrine  in  reference  to  the 
fundamental  characteristics  of  our  government,  and  also  of  its 
policy. 

The  Whigs  stand  emphatically  upon  the  Madisonian  plat 
form. 


332  POLITICAL    PAPERS. 

IV. 

AN    ANCIENT    GRUDGE. 

But  for  a  very  notable  intrigue,  the  political  repose  which 
distinguished  the  era  of  Mr.  Monroe's  administration  might 
have  continued  to  this  day. 

There  were  many  men  who  had  grown  tired  of  waiting  for 
change  through  that  long  sixteen  years  of  Virginia  domination 
personated  in  the  Presidencies  of  Mr.  Jefferson  and  Mr.  Mad 
ison.  There  were,  besides  these,  the  overthrown  Federalists, 
whose  hope  deferred,  through  these  same  sixteen  years,  had 
made  them  sick  at  heart.  Not  the  wisdom  of  such  of  their 
leading  measures  as  the  democratic  administration  had  adopt 
ed  ;  not  the  patriotic  and  gallant  part  many  of  them  had  taken 
in  the  war  ;  not  their  acknowledged  abilities  and  brilliant  ser 
vices  in  legislative  halls,  had  propitiated  the  absolute  hatred 
of  their  name,  which,  in  certain  political  sections  of  the  coun 
try,  still  kept  them  under  the  popular  ban  and  excluded  them 
from  office.  The  triumph  of  the  war  seemed  only  to  have 
sealed  their  fate  and  given  them  ever  to  a  rigorous  proscrip 
tion.  The  nomination  of  Mr.  Monroe  to  the  succession  was 
a  token  of  another  eight  years'  prolongation  of  their  penance. 
Many  fell  off  and  joined  the  other  side;  many  melted  away 
into  neutrals  ;  many  stood  their  ground,  watchful  as  lynxes, 
and  "  feeding  fat  their  ancient  grudge"  with  the  thoughts  of  a 
day  of  retribution,  when  the  democracy  should  be  coupled  like 
hounds  and  the  leash  be  held  in  their  hands.  Verily,  they 
have  watched  to  some  purpose  ! 

A  rally  was  proposed,  in  1815,  to  prevent  the  nomination 
of  Mr.  Monroe  :  a  rally  of  all  who  were  weary  of  Virginia  Pres 
idents,  and  of  all  who  were  weary  of  Democratic  Presidents. 
The  rally  point  was  to  be  Andrew  Jackson  ;  the  man  who  sug 
gested  it  was  Aaron  Burr.  Hear  some  words  from  his  let 
ter  to  Governor  Alston,  November  20,  1815  : 

"  A  certain  junto  of  actual  and  factitious  Virginians  having 


A   DEFENCE    OF    THE   WHIGS.  333 

had  possession  of  the  Government  for  twenty-four  years,  con 
sider  the  United  States  as  their  property." 

"  One  of  their  principal  arts,  and  which  has  been  systemat 
ically  taught  by  Jefferson,  is  that  of  promoting  State  dissen 
sions — not  between  Republican  and  Federal — that  would  do 
them  no  good — but  schisms  in  the  Republican  party." — "Let 
not  this  disgraceful  domination  continue." 

"  The  moment  is  extremely  auspicious  for  breaking  clown 
this  degrading  system.  The  best  citizens  of  our  country  ac 
knowledge  the  feebleness  of  our  administration." — "  If  then  there 
be  a  man  in  the  United  States  of  firmness  and  decision,  and 
having  standing  enough  to  afford  even  a  hope  of  success,  it  is 
your  duty  to  hold  him  up  to  public  view — THAT  MAN  is  AN 
DREW  JACKSON.  Nothing  is  wanting  but  a  respectable  nom 
ination,  made  before  the  proclamation  of  the  Virginian  canvass. 
and  Jackson's  success  is  inevitable." 

"  One  consideration  inclines  me  to  hesitate  about  the  poli 
cy  of  a  present  nomination.  It  is  this — that  Jackson  ought 
first  to  be  admonished  to  be  passive :  for  the  moment  he 
shall  be  announced  as  a  candidate  he  will  be  assailed  by  the 
Virginia  junto,  with  menaces  and  with  assiduous  promises  of 
boons  and  favors.  There  is  danger  that  Jackson  might  be 
wrought  upon  by  such  practices.  If  an  open  nomination  be 
made  an  express  should  be  instantly  sent  to  him." 

"  If  you  should  have  any  confidential  friend  among  the 
members  of  Congress  from  your  State,  charge  him  to  caution 
Jackson  against  the  perfidious  caresses  with  which  he  will  be 
overwhelmed  at  Washington." 

These  are  disjointed  fragments  of  Aaron  Burr's  letter  of 
1815.  They  are  at  the  fountain  head  of  the  new  order  of 
American  politics. 

This  was  the  first  movement  of  the  anti-Jeffersonians  to 
find  a  leader — make  a  new  dynasty. 

With  the  anti-Jeffersonians,  the  portion  of  the  Federalists 
who  were  still  militant,  combined.  General  Jackson  was  ap 
plied  to:  a  secret  negotiation  was  set  on  foot.  How  far  he 


334  POLITICAL    PAPERS. 

acquiesced  may  be  gathered  from  his  subsequent  conduct. 
This  is  certain,  the  pear  was  not  ripe  in  1815.  The  Virginia 
junto  triumphed,  and  Mr.  Monroe,  odious  to  the  anti-Jefferson- 
ians  and  odious  to  the  militant  Federalists,  obtained  the  nom 
ination.  And  so  came  eight  years  more  of  probation  to  the 
expectants. 

General  Jackson,  from  that  hour  was  the  candidate  of 
these  combined  forces.  His  position  was  peculiar.  He  had 
no  conspicuous  antagonism  to  any  of  the  parties.  His  politi 
cal  opinions  were  believed  to  be  of  a  liberal  Whig  cast.  In 
regard  to  measures  he  was,  in  a  great  degree,  uncommitted. 
Personally  he  was  known  to  be  firm  ;  he  was  undoubtedly 
patriotic  ;  and  he  was  reputed  to  be  frank,  open,  and  honest. 
With  Burr,  with  Mr.  Van  Buren  and  the  Federalists  he  had 
opposed  Mr.  Madison's  second  election — not  for  the  reasons 
which  governed  Burr,  Van  Buren  and  the  Federalists,  but  be 
cause  he  preferred  Mr.  Monroe  as  the  better  man  in  the  crisis. 
This  opposition  was  one  ground  of  his  favor  with  the  Federal 
ists.  His  letter  to  Mr.  Monroe,  January  6,  1817,  is  very  note 
worthy  on  this  point.  Read  this  extract  from  it : 

"  I  have  once  upon  a  time  been  denounced  as  a  Federalist. 
You  will  smile  when  I  name  the  cause.  When  your  country 
put  up  your  name  in  opposition  to  Mr.  Madison  I  was  one  of 
those  who  gave  you  the  preference,  and  for  reason  that,  in  the 
event  of  war,  which  was  then  probable,  you  would  steer  the 
vessel  of  state  with  more  energy.  That  Mr.  Madison  was  one 
of  the  best  of  men  and  a  great  civilian  I  always  thought  ; 
but  I  always  believed  that  the  mind  of  a  philosopher  could 
not  dwell  on  blood  and  carnage  with  any  composure  ;  of  course 
that  he  was  not  fitted  for  a  stormy  sea." 

General  Jackson  concurred  with  Mr.  Madison's  political 
views  as  a  civilian.  These  views  were  Federal  in  many  im 
portant  points — that  is  to  say,  on  the  question  of  a  National 
Bank,  on  Internal  improvements,  on  the  Protective  policy. 
So  far  again  General  Jackson  and  the  Federalists  were  in  har- 
monv. 


A   DEFENCE    OF    THE    WHIGS.  335 

He  was  a  soldier  ;  at  that  time  greeted  with  lavish  honors 
by  all  sections  of  the  country,  by  all  classes  of  society,  by  all 
political  parties.  He  was,  therefore,  tolerant  and  full  of  good 
feeling  to  all  men  ;  and  especially  kind  to  all  those  of  the  Fed 
eral  party  who  had  sustained  the  war,  and  who  had  gone  into 
the  ranks.  The  idea  of  proscribing  a  good  soldier  or  a  sol 
dier's  friend  from  the  confidence  of  the  administration,  because 
he  was  a  Federalist,  was  particularly  abhorrent  to  General 
Jackson.  This  sentiment  is  expressed  in  strong  language  in 
the  letter  to  Mr.  Monroe  quoted  above,  and  the  General  there, 
in  accordance  with  this  sentiment,  advises  the  President  to 
dismiss  party  considerations  and  call  a  distinguished  Federalist 
of  the  war  into  his  cabinet. 

This  temper  formed  another  bond  of  amity  and  relationship 
with  the  Federalists. 

Now,  with  a  man  so  endowed,  so  circumstanced,  it  was  ob 
vious  that  the  Federalists  might  redeem  their  lost  honors  and 
even  win  the  absolute  supremacy  in  affairs,  Such  of  them 
therefore,  as  coveted  office,  entered  heartily  into  the  plan, 
and  General  Jackson  was  thus  dedicated  by  them  to  the  con 
test  of  1824. 

It  is  said  that  his  letter  to  Mr.  Monroe,  November  i2th, 
1816,  was,  in  fact,  written  for  him  by  a  distinguished  Federalist 
of  that  day.  By  whomsoever  written,  the  sentiment  it  utters  is 
worthy  of  a  great  man,  and  General  Jackson's  adoption  of  it 
does  him  honor. 

"  Every  thing" — he  says  to  the  President  elect,  who  was  then 
just  preparing  to  open  his  administration — "  depends  upon  the 
selection  of  your  ministry.  In  every  selection  party  and  party 
feelings  should  be  avoided.  Now  is  the  time  to  exterminate 
that  monster  called  party  spirit.  By  selecting  characters  most 
conspicuous  for  their  probity,  virtue,  capacity  and  firmness, 
without  any  regard  to  party,  you  will  go  far  to,  if  not  entirely, 
eradicate  those  feelings  which  on  former  occasions  threw  so 
many  obstacles  in  the  way  of  government,  and  perhaps  have 
the  pleasure  and  honor  of  uniting  a  people  heretofore  politi- 


336  TOLITICAL    PAPERS. 

cally  divided.  The  Chief  Magistrate  of  a  great  and  powerful 
nation  should  never  indulge  in  party  feelings.  His  conduct 
should  be  liberal  and  disinterested,  always  bearing  in  mind 
that  he  acts  for  the  whole  and  not  for  a  part  of  the  community. 
By  this  course  you  will  exalt  the  national  character  and  acquire 
for  yourself  a  name  imperishable  as  monumental  marble.  Con 
sult  no  party  in  your  choice ;  pursue  the  dictates  of  that  uner 
ring  judgment  which  has  so  long  and  so  often  benefited  our 
country  and  rendered  conspicuous  its  rulers.  These  are  the 
sentiments  of  a  friend  ;  they  are  the  feelings,  if  I  know  my  own 
heart,  of  an  undissembled  patriot." 

This  letter  shows  the  state  of  feeling  into  which  the  nego 
tiation  for  a  Presidential  candidate  had  at  that  time  brought 
the  mind  of  General  Jackson. 

With  the  exception  of  the  small  clique  in  whom  the  nomi 
nation  originated  and  their  confidants,  this  movement  was  a 
profound  secret,  and  the  name  of  Jackson,  as  a  candidate,  was 
kept  out  of  hearing  until  the  proper  moment  to  make  its  an 
nouncement  effective.  In  due  season  it  was  brought  out.  It 
had  the  aid  of  all  the  customary  machinery  by  which  volunteer 
nominations  are  coerced,  and  impromptu  effusions  of  public 
feeling  are  prepared.  There  was  first  a  biography  written  by 
one  in  the  secret,  and  then  those  zephyr  whispers  which  pre 
cede  the  dawn.  Then  the  gradual  dawn  itself :  a  faint  streak 
on  the  horizon,  a  flush,  a  strengthening  twilight,  a  broad  and 
golden  aurora,  and  then  the  God  of  Day  himself,  "  rejoicing  as 
a  strong  man  to  run  a  race." 

The  other  candidates  were  Adams  and  Clay,  Crawford  and 
Calhoun. 

Neither  Adams,  Clay,  nor  Crawford  had  many  hopes  to  in 
dulge  of  support  from  the  Federal  party.  They  had  not  wooed 
the  Federalists  : — and  "  the  old  grudge,"  if  it  alighted  upon  one 
head  more  heavily  than  upon  another,  was  upon  the  head  of 
Henry  Clay.  He,  at  least,  had  never  courted  the  Federal  par 
ty  : — had  very  seldom  spared  it.  To  Calhoun  and  Jackson 
that  party  directed  its  chief  favor. 


A    DEFENCE    OF    THE    WHIGS.  337 

Every  one  remembers  the  sudden  collapse  of  Mr.  Calhoun's 
pretensions  in  1823,  and  thereupon  the  amalgamated  ticket  of 
Jackson  for  the  Presidency  and  Calhoun  for  the  Vice-Presi 
dency. — To  that  standard,  straightway,  rallied  the  whole  body 
of  that  class  of  Federalists  who  desired  to  become  political 
characters  and  who  stood  within  that  category  of  Jackson's 
favor  of  having  been  friendly  to  the  war.  There  was  another 
class  of  Federalists  in  the  country,  whose  leaders  Jackson  had 
declared  to  Mr.  Monroe  he  would  have  hung  under  the  20! 
section  of  the  articles  of  war.  These,  of  course  did  not  come 
under  the  new  banner. 

So  much  for  the  political  men  of  that  day.  There  were, 
besides,  a  vast  multitude  of  private  citizens,  Federalists  of  the 
old  school,  who,  seeking  nothing  for  themselves,  having  no 
eye  to  public  employment,  and  anxious  only  to  preserve  the 
harmony  and  prosperity  of  the  country,  took  sides  with  the  va 
rious  candidates,  under  the  influence  of  their  own  personal  es 
timate  of  the  fitness  of  the  men  to  conduct  the  affairs  of  the 
nation. 

Now,  it  is  worthy  of  observation  in  all  this  stir  of  the  pub 
lic  mind, — and  it  is  mainly  to  present  this  remark  that  I  have 
hastily  glanced  at  the  character  of  this  presidential  contest — 
that,  from  beginning  to  end,  the  movement  was  one  that  rested 
solely  upon  questions  of  personal  predilection,  and  in  nowise 
involved  any  question  of  constitutional  doctrine  or  system  of 
political  measures. — All  stood,  at  that  day,  upon  the  Madiso- 
nian  Platform  ;  none  more  distinctly  upon  it  than  General 
Jackson. 

Whether  for  Adams  or  Clay,  for  Crawford  or  Jackson,  the 
country  hoped  to  see  the  measures  and  the  doctrine  of  Mr. 
Madison  and  Mr.  Monroe  left  unchanged  ; — not  only  left  un 
changed,  but  promoted,  continued,  made  permanent  by  all 
Legislative  and  ministerial  concurrence.  I  will  not  say  this  de 
sire  was  universal,  because  we  had  some  few  abstractions  then 
such  as  we  have  many  now  :  there  were  quips  and  quillets  then, 
and  fancies  in  some  quarters  ; — but  the  broad,  good,  common 


338  POLITICAL    PAPEKS. 

sense  of  the  nation  spoke  from  the  tongue  of  a  huge  majority 
in  favor  of  the  Madisonian  system.  Thus  it  was  that  through 
that  contest  the  Whig  spirit  of  the  nation  was  still  unembod- 
ied  : — not  unexistent,  for  it  lived  as  vividly  then  as  at  any  era. 
But  there  being  no  apprehension  of  assault  upon  it,  no  motive 
to  give  it  an  array,  no  occasion  for  it  to  utter  its  voice,  it  dwelt 
in  its  private  homes,  and  among  our  household  gods,  as  a 
guardian  genius  which  was  not  to  become  outwardly  visible  un 
til  the  country's  invocation  should  conjure  it  up  to  the  stern 
duty  of  defence.  Thus,  too,  it  fell  out  that  multitudes  of 
Whigs  gathered  to  the  support  of  Jackson  and  Calhoun,  con 
fiding  implicitly  in  the  conviction  that,  in  the  character  of  Gen 
eral  Jackson,  they  had  every  guarantee  that  the  purity  and  the 
predominance  of  our  free  institutions  would  be  preserved. 

There  were  many  warnings  against  this  confidence.  Those 
who  knew  General  Jackson  best  affirmed  that  there  was  dan 
ger  in  his  temper,  in  his  unskilfulness  and  incapacity  for  civil 
station,  in  his  personal  partisan  habits,  in  his  stern  self-will 
nursed  in  camps  and  hardened  by  the  universal  spirit  of  assen 
tation  that  filled  his  atmosphere  of  command.  That  his  defi 
ciencies  would  necessarily  render  him  dependent  upon  those 
who  had  the  craft  to  guide  him,  and  that  there  was  danger, — as 
Burr,  who  was  well  acquainted  with  him,  expressed  it — he 
"might  be  wrought  upon." 

To  all  such  forewarnings  little  heed  was  given.  They  rath 
er  stirred  the  friends  of  Jackson  to  a  greater  trust  in  htm,  be 
cause  much  calumny  was  detected  and  exposed  in  the  revilings 
of  political  adversaries.  And  naturally,  thereupon,  these  warn 
ings  were  attributed — as  in  part  they  were  justly  so  attributed 
— to  political  malice,  or  were  set  down  to  rivalry. 

General  Jackson's  defeat  in  the  House  of  Representatives 
in  1825,  brought  a  new  element  to  his  support.  The  public 
ear  was  filled  with  stories  of  intrigues  behind  the  curtain  ;  and 
as  the  truth  could  not  be  come  at, — for  truth  in  such  matters  is 
never  found  until  what  may  be  called  posthumous  history  clears 
it  up, — the  people  solved  the  problem  of  the  defeat  by  a  politi 


A    DEFENCE    OF   THE    WHIGS.  339 

cal  postulate,  which,  whether  right  or  wrong, — and  that  is  yet  a 
question  of  debate, — was  altogether  sufficient  to  elect  General 
Jackson  four  years  afterward,  by  a  large  majority.  That  pos 
tulate  was  that  the  House  of  Representatives,  when  put  to  the 
decision  of  the  Presidency  between  three  or  more  candidates, 
should  choose  him  who  had  the  greatest  number  of  popular 
votes.  In  other  words,  that  the  choice  should  fall  on  the  plu 
rality  candidate  :  which  postulate,  if  it  be  true,  would  seem  to 
make  the  ceremony  of  a  vote  in  the  House  of  Representatives, 
a  mere  ceremony. 

However,  so  it  was, — and  General  Jackson  became  Presi 
dent  on  the  4th  of  March,  1829. 

V. 

FIRST    INSTALMENT. 

I  am  not  so  confident  as  to  affirm  that  if  no  secret  move 
ment  had  been  made,  in  1815,  to  bring  out  General  Jackson 
against  Mr.  Monroe,  by  the  anti-Jefferson ians  and  the  grudge- 
bearing  Federalists,  General  Jackson  would  not  have  been  ul 
timately  nominated,  and  perhaps  elected.  On  that  point  I  am 
not  concerned  to  speculate.  But  I  do  remark  that  that  secret 
movement  brought  him  within  the  attraction  of  influences  to 
which  the  country  is  indebted  for  the  larger  share  of  its  recent 
sufferings. 

Burr  selected  Jackson  to  break  down  the  Jeffersonian  dy 
nasty.  The  Federalists  selected  him  partly  for  that  purpose, 
but  chiefly  because  he  was  known  to  possess  an  ardent  wish  to 
see  the  old  party  lines  destroyed  and  the  Federalists  of  the 
War  brought  into  the  view  of  Government.  They  knew  that 
his  popularity,  won  by  great  military  achievements,  might  be 
made  a  sure  card  with  the  majority  of  the  nation.  It  was  a 
brilliant  piece  of  pyrotechny,  which  it  was  only  necessary  to 
touch  at  the  right  season  to  produce  one  of  the  most  dazzling 
displays  that  the  country  had  ever  beheld.  But  great  judgment 
was  necessary  to  find  that  right  season.  Obviously  it  was  not 
in  1815,  when  Monroe,  an  old  soldier  of  the  Revolution,  was 


340  POLITICAL    PAPERS. 

in  the  field.  That  was.  another  piece  of  pyrotechny,  which 
stood  in  case  to  be  let  off  first.  The  interval  of  Mr.  Monroe's 
eight  years  was  employed  in  preparation  for  the  impromptu  of 
1823.  In  that  interval  the  letters  I  have  heretofore  quoted 
were  written,  and  published  in  the  newspapers :  not  written  by 
General  Jackson, — rumor  has  always  said, — but  written  from 
him.  Written  by  those  who  enjoyed  his  confidence,  and  who 
felt  an  interest  in  presenting  his  tolerant  opinions  in  party  mat 
ters  before  the  world,  and  adopted  by  him  as  true  exponents 
of  his  own  sentiments,  which  at  that  time,  doubtless,  they  were. 

These  letters  drew  especially  the  Federal  eye  upon  him, 
and  carried,  in  the  end,  a  large  number  of  the  subtlest,  the 
skilfulest,  and  the  most  aspiring  members  of  that  party  into 
close  communion  with  him. 

Now  mark  the  grouping  around  General  Jackson  in  the 
canvass  of  1824.  On  one  side  of  him,  sitting  close  to  his  ear, 
an  active,  astute,  keen-sighted,  highly  educated  bevy  of  politi 
cians,  with  a  long  hatred  of  the  Democratic  rule  festering  at 
their  hearts,  with  a  heavy  score  of  notched  revenges  filed  in 
their  memory,  with  wrath  to  plan,  and  talents  to  do  any  amount 
of  mischief  on  their  enemies  ; — these  sitting  there  favored  and 
confidential  advisers  of  that  strenuous  man,  whose  power  only 
.needed  skilful  direction  to  render  it  overwhelming.  On  the 
other  side  of  him,  a  host  of  young  officers  and  companions  in 
arms,  who  had  shared  in  his  battles,  and  had  become  identified 
with  his  fortunes  :  many  of  them  needy,  all  ambitious,  covetous 
of  distinction,  subservient  to  his  will,  alert,  brave,  restless,  full 
of  capability,  and  ready  by  all  means, — by  persuasion,  by  influ 
ence,  by  bustle,  and  by  brawl, — to  propagate  his  ascendency 
wherever  it  might  be  questioned.  Then  all  below  him,  filling 
a  huge  space,  that  mass  of  men  whose  numbers  cannot  be 
counted,  who,  in  every  country,  are  the  flatterers  of  military  re 
nown,  and  who  cannot  conceive  any  duty  to  the  State,  or  any 
contribution  of  service,  as  worthy  to  be  compared  with  military 
duty  and  service  :  that  great  mass,  stirred  by  patriotic  impulse, 
but  evei  most  apt  to  fall  into  the  extreme  of  an  excessive  ad- 


A   DEFENCE    OP   THE   WHIGS.  341 

miration  of  heroical  achievement,  permitting  that  sentiment  to 
preclude  all  doubt  of  other  capability,  silence  all  distrust,  re 
fuse  a  hearing  to  all  invocation  of  inquiry. — I  need  only  say, 
Andrew  Jackson  was,  at  this  time,  rampant  on  more  than  ten 
thousand  sign-posts.  What  heraldry  affords  such  a  blazon  ? 
What  record  of  a  popular  apotheosis  like  this  ?  What  was 
needed  to  bring  this  sentiment,  so  painted  on  the  sign-post, 
into  mighty  and  resistless  action  but  a  nomination,  a  canvass, 
some  flowing  rhetoric  on  the  stump,  some  artful  shedding  of 
printer's  ink? 

These  were  the  surroundings  of  General  Jackson  in  the 
canvass  of  1824.  In  addition  to  these  were  many  quiet, 
thoughtful  citizens — a  very  large  number — who  had  great  faith 
in  his  peculiar  honesty  of  purpose,  in  his  love  of  country,  in 
his  judgment  of  manly  men. 

When  the  time  came  this  mass  was  put  in  motion.  That 
it  failed  in  1824  was  no  fatal  omen.  The  pear  still  was  not 
ripe.  The  combination,  even  then,  was  the  strongest  that  was 
in  the  field.  The  disappointment  of  1824  only  whetted  the 
edge  of  appetite.  The  belligerent  Federalist  thenceforth  be 
came  more  belligerent,  The  gentlemen  of  the  "  bilbo  and 
buff"'  began  anew  "to  stride,  swear,  and  swagger;"  and  the 
great  multitude  raised  one  loud  and  long  shout  of  exhortation 
to  another  trial.  That  trial  was  successful;  — much  to  the  de 
light  of  certain  of  the  old  Federal  party  ;  much  to  the  delight 
of  the  officers  of  1814,  now  growing  gray,  and  those  of  the 
Seminole  war,  still  young  ;  and  much  to  the  delight  of  all  those 
who  look  to  the  sign-posts — no  very  bad  standard  of  judg 
ment — for  a  true  record  of  public  worth. 

General  Jackson  could  not  but  feel,  in  1829,  that  he  owed 
a  great  debt  of  gratitude  to  the  Federalists.  They  took  care 
that  he  should  not  forget  it.  They  crowded  round  him  in  the 
first  moments  of  his  success  :  took  possession  of  his  ear  ;  told 
him  who  was  who,  and  what  was  what ;  insinuated  themselves 
into  his  confidence,  and,  finally,  became  inducted  in  the 
choicest  offices  of  the  government,  each  according  to  his  qual- 


342  POLITICAL    PAPERS. 

ity  and  pretensions,  from  the  chief  cabinet  station  down  to 
the  chief  tide-waiter  in  the  custom-house — new  tenants  in 
strange  places !  And  thus  did  it  come  to  pass  that,  after  thir 
ty  years,  these  captives  of  Babylon  were  restored  to  their  an 
cient  seats.  This  was  the  payment  of  the  first  instalment  of 
"the  ancient  grudge." 

VI. 

SECOND     INSTALMENT. — UPRISING    OF    THE     WHIGS. 

THE  payment  of  the  second  instalment  was  a  different  thing. 
The  first  was  the  giving  of  alms — a  few  crusts  to  a  few  sturdy 
beggars.  The  second  was  an  incubation  of  curses.  Wo  worth 
the  day  that  saw  the  alighting  of  that  Federal  vengeance  upon 
this  land ! 

General  Jackson  had  come  to  the  Presidency  in  masquer 
ade.  The  people  had  known  him  as  a  soldier,  frank  and  bold. 
As  a  civilian,  as  a  statesman,  they  did  not  know  much  of  him, 
except  that  he  had  shown  himself  in  the  Senate  a  friend  to  the 
Whig  measures,  internal  improvements,  and  Tariff,  and  no  en 
emy  to  a  National  Bank.  In  all  other  points  of  qualification 
they  took  him  upon  inference  from  the  capacity  he  had  dis 
played  in  war,  and  from  the  direct  representation  made  of  him 
self  in  the  sundry  letters  to  Mr.  Monroe  and  others,  and  such 
documents  as  had  been  put  forth  under  his  name ; — all  which 
letters  and  other  presentations  of  himself  were,  at  that  time, 
believed  to  be  genuine.  They  were  not  genuine,  but,  on  the 
contrary,  simulated. 

Now,  General  Jackson,  in  the  beginning  of  this  Presiden 
tial  movement,  was  truly  honest  in  his  estimate  of  himself, 
and  expressed  a  natural  surprise  that  he  should  be  thought  a 
suitable  man  to  be  made  Chief  Magistrate  ;  and  truly,  this  dif 
fidence  of  his  in  that  day,  is  the  most  genuine  proof  of  his  fit 
ness  to  be  President  which  may  be  remarked  in  the  history  of 
the  event.  If  that  sentiment  had  not  grown  weaker,  and  in 
the  end  come  to  be  entirely  obliterated,  he  might  have  been 


A   DEFENCE    OF   THE    WITIGS.  343 

all  that  the  Country  had  expected  of  him, — an  earnest,  faithful 
and  wise  Magistrate. 

But  as  the  time  came  round,  and  improbabilities  were 
changed  into  probabilities,  and  every  day  gave  him  new  proofs 
that  his  chances  and  hopes  were  strengthening  towards  cer 
tainties,  he  submitted  himself  more  and  more  to  that  guidance 
the  policy  of  which  was  to  conceal  and  misrepresent  him. 
There  was  a  cordon  sanitaire  drawn  around  him,  or  a  cordon  tac- 
iturne  rather.  He  was  in  quarantine  ;  and  all  that  came  to 
him,  and  all  that  went  from  him,  came  and  went  through  an 
official :  as  to  all  true  exhibition  of  himself,  he  was  a  man  for 
bid.  Others  wrote  for  him,  spoke  for  him,  acted  for  him.  It 
was  a  candidacy  in  commission,  vicarious,  and  seeming  what 
it  was  not. 

General  Jackson  was  not  an  educated  man.  He  knew  lit 
tle  of  principles  of  government,  especially  of  free  government. 
But  he  was  a  shrewd  man,  with  strong  natural  sagacity,  of  a 
domineering  temper,  of  restless  will,  and  like  Sir  Anthony  Ab 
solute,  "  no  one  more  easily  led  when  he  had  his  own  way." 
His  fortune  in  this  Presidential  canvass  presented  him  a  visi 
ble  profit  from  dissimulation,  and  he  became  the  most  cunning 
and  effective  dissembler  of  these  modern  days. 

There  sat,  all  this  time, "  squat  by  his  ear,"  that  toad  of 
Federal  vengeance  whispering  the  payments  of  its  debt  in  such 
instalments  as  time  should  bring.  What  leprous  distilment  of 
ancient  hate  was  poured  into  that  ear,  we  shall  read  in  the 
annals  of  ten  years  of  such  mischief  as  this  land  has  never  be 
fore  felt. 

The  Inaugural  was  a  fair  and  honest  paper,  modest,  patri 
otic,  expressing  sound  Whig  doctrine. 

"  I  shall  keep  in  view  the  limitations  of  Executive  power  : 

"  I  shall  not  confound  State  powers  with  those  granted  to 
the  Confederacy  : 

"  I  shall  promote  a  strict  and  faithful  economy  : 

"  By  a  proper  selection  of  the  subjects  of  impost,  the  interests 
of  agriculture,  commerce,  and  manufactures  shall  be  equally 


344  POLITICAL    PAPERS. 

favored — exception  being  made  for  the  peculiar  encouragement 
of  products  that  may  be  found  essential  to  our  national  inde 
pendence  : 

"  I  will  be  friendly  to  internal  improvement  and  the  diffu 
sion  of  knowledge,  as  far  as  they  can  be  promoted  by  the  con 
stitutional  acts  of  the  Federal  Government : 

"  I  will  give  heed  to  the  correction  of  those  abuses  which 
have  brought  the  patronage  of  the  Federal  Government  into 
conflict  with  the  freedonvof  elections." 

There  is  a  summary  of  the  Inaugural. 

Here,  in  the  first  utterance  of  General  Jackson's  adminis 
tration,  was  the  old  Whig  jealousy  of  Executive  power  soothed 
and  conciliated. 

Now,  read  the  Message  to  Congress  that  followed  this  pa 
per — 8th  of  December,  1829. 

See  what  promises  there  of  curtailing  Executive  power. 
First,  the  proposition  to  limit  the  President  to  a  single  term  : 
then,  the  old  Place  Bill  of  William  and  Mary, — the  Whig  meas 
ure  of  1692, — brought  to  view  by  General  Jackson  himself,  in 
the  recommendation  to  restrain  the  President  from  appointing 
members  of  Congress  to  office.  Then,  a  solemn  abjuration  of 
all  doubtful  powers,  and  a  reference  of  all  doubtful  questions 
to  the  people.  Then,  rigid  accountability  of  public  officers 
and  punishment  of  all  defaulters,  and  dispensing  with  all  use 
less  officers. 

So  much  as  to  doctrine. 

As  for  measure, — 

First,  A  Tariff  that  should  place  our  own  manufactures  in 
fair  competition  with  those  of  other  countries. 

Second,  The  distribution  of  surplus  revenue  for  "  the  im 
provement  of  inland  navigation  and  the  construction  of  high 
ways  in  the  several  States." 

Third,  A  National  Bank  founded  on  the  credit  and  reve 
nues  of  the  government. 

These  were  the  first  enunciations  of  the  Jackson  adminis 
tration, — the  published  chart  of  its  voyage.  Add  to  this  for- 


A    DEFENCE    OF   THE    WIIIGS.  345 

mula  that  famous  declaration  in  the  message  of  December, 
1832 — "It  seems  to  me  to  be  our  true  policy  that  the  public 
lands  shall  cease,  as  soon  as  practicable,  to  be  a  source  of  reve 
nue" — and  what  remains  behind  this  sum  of  doctrine  and  meas 
ures  to  make  up  the  epitome  of  Whig  principles  ? 

This  was  the  Whig  Jacksonism  in  the  innocent  days  and 
youthful  prime  of  that  fearful  administration.  What  wonder 
that,  in  1829,  the  country  was  quiet  and  full  of  joyful  antici  a- 
tion  ! 

The  odor  of  these  promises  had  scarcely  faded  from  the 
breath  that  uttered  them,  before  a  most  disastrous  change  came 
over  all  things.  I  doubt  if  history  furnishes  a  stronger  testimony 
to  the  instability  of  human  hopes  than  in  this  very  instance  of 
General  Jackson's  promises  and  performance.  Never  was  the 
faith  plighted  in  wooing  more  slighted  in  wedlock  ;  never  was 
husband  more  unlike  lover — than  the  faith  plighted  by  Jackson 
seeking  office  was  slighted  by  Jackson  holding  office  ;  than  the 
hero  of  Orleans  firmly  seated  in  the  Presidential  chair  was  un 
like  the  same  hero  when  clambering  to  it. 

Straightway  we  had  loud  and  peremptory  assertion  of  Pre 
rogative  against  Privilege  : — not  made  with  qualification  and 
modest  reserve  of  conditions  ;  but  made  in  boldest  amplitude 
of  claim. 

Straightway  we  had  the  kingly  Veto  hurled,  like  Jove's 
thunderbolts,  against  all  contumacious  law-makers,  represent 
atives,  dissenting  people. 

We  had  unblushing  exercise  of  all  doubtful  powers  that 
in  any  time  before,  or  by  any  political  party,  had  ever  been 
called  doubtful. 

We  had  defiance,  vituperation,  reproof  of  the  Legislative 
Power,  as  an  insolent  meddler  with  the  royal  prerogatives 
claimed  for  the  President. 

We  had  contempt  for  all  highest  judicial  decision  on  the 
import  of  laws,  and  proclamation  that  all  laws  shall  henceforth 
be  executed  as  "  I  understand  them" — or  not  executed,  if  I 
shall  judge  them  unconstitutional,  at  my  sovereign  pleasure. 

15* 


346  POLITICAL    PAPERS. 

We  had  that  notorious  pretension — "  I  am  the  Executive — 
all  officers  are  my  officers  and  responsible  tome  only,  and  not 
to  you,  the  Legislature  ; — I  have  commanded  them  not  to  an 
swer  you,  but  me." 

We  had  that  very  ominous  and  significant  claim,  "  the 
President  is  the  direct  representative  of  the  American  people" 
— and  the  corollary  from  it,  that  the  representative  of  the 
whole  people  was  not  to  be  molested,  inquired  after,  imperti 
nently  inspected  by  the  representatives  of  fragments  of  the 
people. 

Has  any  one  forgotten  Napoleon's  interview  with  the  Dep 
uties  when  he  came  from  Leipsic  in  1813  ? — "  You  are  not  the 
representatives  of  the  people, — you  are  only  representatives  of 
the  Individual  Departments.  But  you  seek  in  your  address  to 
draw  a  distinction  between  the  Sovereign  and  the  People. — I, 
— I  am  the  only  real  Representative  of  the  People." 

We  had  that  old  Whig  measure  of  1692, — the  Place  Bill, 
as  it  was  called  in  that  day — General  Jackson  himself  having 
revived  and  recommended  it  in  his  message,  as  we  said,— we 
had  this  measure  thrown  to  the  winds,  and  members  of  Con 
gress  appointed  to  office  in  greater  numbers  than  had  ever  been 
practised  before  by  any  President : — by  all  former  Presidents 
put  together,  perhaps. 

We  had  announcement  of  the  President  for  a  second  term, 
and  strenuous  effort  to  obtain  it  by  all  manner  of  bringing  of 
Patronage  into  conflict  with  the  freedom  of  election. 

We  had  organized  party  action  against  another  old  Whig 
measure,  famous  in  English  history,  in  the  struggle  of  Privilege 
against  Prerogative — the  bill  to  disable  officeholders  from  ac 
tive  interference  in  elections, — which  was  introduced  into  the 
Senate  by  the  Whigs,  and  most  diligently  opposed  by  the  Ad 
ministration. 

Then  we  had  pocketing  of  bills  when  majorities  of  two- 
thirds  were  ready  to  pass  them  in  spite  of  the  Veto. 

We  had  Removals  of  Deposits  when  Congress  had  resolved 
they  should  not  be  removed  ;  and  denial  of  the  right  of  Con- 


A   DEFENCE    OF    THE    WHIGS.  34:7 

gress  to  take  the  Treasure  from  the  control  of  the  Executive  ; 
— hand  that  held  the  sword,  claiming  to  hold  the  purse. 

We  had,  consequent  on  this  usurpation,  Removals  of  High 
Officers  of  the  Treasury  and  Cabinet,  because  they  would  not 
do  what  Congress  told  them  they  must  not  do. 

We  had  blind  and  infuriated  demolition  of  the  Bank, — for 
the  sake  of  a  "  better  currency  !" — We  had  the  building  up  of 
some  half  thousand  paper-breeding,  high-pressure,  thimble-rig 
Banks,  strown  from  Passamaquoddy  to  Opelousas,  flinging 
their  windy  missiles  over  the  land  "  thick  as  autumnal  leaves  in 
Vallombrosa :" — this  too — for  the  sake  of  a  "  better  currency  f 
— These  half  thousand,  with  each  a  President,  a  Cashier,  a 
dozen  or  so  Directors,  a  dozen  or  so  Clerks  ;  every  president, 
cashier,  director,  and  clerk  having  a  cousin  at  least ;  and  then 
a  most  commendable  Seventh  Ward  Bank  spirit  of  compliance  ! 
— with  many  new  mouths  to  be  fed,  with  many  millions  of  new 
speculations  to  be  fostered,  with  many  millions  of  old  insolv 
encies  to  be  patched  up  ; — with  the  Treasury  recommendation 
besides,  in  the  foreground — "  accommodate  the  People  with 
the  Public  funds  :" — All  this,  too,  we  had — for  the  sake  of  a 
"better  currency!"  Which  better  currency,  of  course,  it 
brought  us  !  !  And,  hard  upon  all  this,  we  had  Specie  Circu 
lars  and  Hard  Money.  And  then  came  most  pathetical  wind 
ing  up  of  all  this  queer  history,  in  sanctimonious  sermons 
levelled  against  the  wicked  Whigs  as  Rag  Barons,  and  patrons 
of  the  abominable  abomination  of  paper  money  ! 

We  had  war  against  the  Tariff;  war  against  Internal  Im 
provements  by  the  Federal  Government ;  and  most  fatherly 
advice  to  the  States  to  spare  not  in  making  all  manner  of  im 
provements  themselves  ; — which  advice  the  States, — being  most 
loyal  and  in  good  hands — for  the  most  part,  thankfully  received 
and  obeyed  to  the  letter. 

We  had  war  on  the  scheme  to  take  the  Public  Lands  "  as 
soon  as  practicable"  away  from  the  revenue  of  the  Government 
and  to  give  them  to'  the  States  to  whom — as,  in  old  time,  all 
confessed, — they  belonged,  and  for  whom, — it  was  a  common 


34:8  POLITICAL    PAPERS. 

opinion  which  neither  party  was  once  bold  enough  to  deny, 
— they  were  held  in  trust.  On  this  an  active  and  unsparing  war : 
— a  vvar  to  the  extent  of  pocketing—  usque  ad  load  urn — with 
supererogatory  veto  besides. 

And  then,  for  Economy  and  Retrenchment ; — for  strict  ac 
countability  of  Officers,  and  condign  punishment  of  Defaulters 
— what  in  the  vocabulary  of  the  English  tongue  is  the  reverse 
of  all  this,  have  we  not  had  ! 

Why  should  I  recall  that  sad  history  which  furnishes  the 
particulars  of  this  long  catalogue  of  broken  promises  ?  The 
visible  scars  of  commerce,  agriculture  and  manufactures  are 
yet  vivid  memorials  of  these  broken  promises. 

I  have  brought  these  incidents  to  view  for  no  idle  purpose. 
It  is  to  show  that  the  career  of  General  Jackson's  administra 
tion  revived  every  cause  of  contest  which  had  ever  embodied 
the  Whigs  in  past  times.  It  exhibited  in  terrible  proportions 
that  old  phantom  of  Prerogative  shaking  his  dart  against  Privi 
lege — a  phantom  first  and  then  a  Devil — against  which  every 
Whig  antipathy  that  resided  in  an  American  bosom  was  sworn 
to  do  eternal  battle. 

Who  instigated  these  wayward  freaks  of  authority  ?  There 
were  cunning  Greeks  that  had  entered  the  citadel  in  the 
Horse's  belly,  and  who  taught  the  people  of  our  Troy  to  wor 
ship  the  Horse-God  himself? — The  Grudge  was  in  the  full 
progress  of  satisfaction.  The  second  instalment  was  a  paying. 

The  year  1830  witnessed  the  new  embodiment  of  the 
Whigs.  From  that  day  the  rally  bears  date.  Thousands  and 
tens  of  thousands  of  Whigs  hastened  from  the  quiet  of  their 
long  retirement,  to  raise  again  their  honored  banner  to  the 
breeze,  and  to  seek  the  fellowship  of  a  new  war  in  behalf  of  Priv 
ilege  against  Prerogative.  Speedily  they  grew  to  be  a  mighty 
host.  Assuming  their  ancient  name,  renouncing  all  other,  they 
planted  themselves  in  robust  opposition  to  that  Executive, 
which,  misadvised  by  treacherous  friends  and  intoxicated  by 
its  almost  immeasurable  popularity,  had  dared  to  revive  the 
old  quarrel — had  dared  to  set  itself  above  that  cherished  Leg- 


A   DEFENCE    OF   THE    WHIGS.  349 

islative  power  upon  which  our  Whig  forefathers  had  reposed 
as  the  surest  defender  of  Free  Government. 

Sudden  invasion  by  a  foreign  foe  could  scarcely  have  given 
more  alacrity  to  their  rising,  or  stimulated  the  Whigs  into  more 
rapid  array,  than  was  witnessed  in  this  glorious  impulse  of  pa 
triotism.  Eternal  honor  to  the  men  who  reared  the  Whig  ban 
ner  of  1830  !  How  many  standing,  until  then,  on  terms  of 
friendship  with  Jackson  —  nay,  of  admiration  even  —  having 
chance  and  opportunity,  if  such  had  been  their  wish,  to  gather 
preferment  and  official  emolument  from  him — how  many  of  these 
parted  from  him,  then,  forthwith  forever  ?  Was  there  ever  such 
falling  off  of  bold  and  honest  men  from  the  train  and  following 
of  a  conqueror  before  ?  In  the  very  midst  of  his  triumphs  and 
palmiest  day  of  his  power,  they  left  him  :  left  him,  not  to  in 
dulge  in  the  inglorious  ease  of  neutrals,  but  to  contend  against 
him  and  his  overwhelming  and  impetuous  partisans  on  every 
field.  They  left  him,  resolved  unceasingly  to  strive  in  the  un 
equal  conflict,  until  the  obsequious  fervor  of  the  times  should 
be  sobered  into  a  cooler  mood,  and  the  genuine  American 
spirit  of  jealous  Liberty  should,  as  inevitably  it  would,  rise 
again  in  the  breasts  of  the  nation  to  sway  and  direct  the  pub 
lic  judgment. 

The  embodied  Whigs  of  1830  bided  their  time,  and  found 
it  in  the  memorable  contest  of  1840. 

VII. 

DEMOCRACY    IN    FEDERAL    LEADING    STRINGS. 

The  Federalists,  as  a  party,  have  been  charged  with  lean 
ing  to  a  too  strong  organization  of  the  Executive. 

In  regard  to  many  Federalists  that  charge  is  untrue.  In 
regard  to  the  grudge-bearing  Federalists  it  is  almost  univer 
sally  true.  These  men  in  old  time  affected  fears  of  the  perma 
nency  of  our  system  from  the  predominance  of  popular  power; 
in  other  phrase,  from  the  power  of  the  Legislature.  They  were, 
according  to  our  scale  of  things,  friends  of  Prerogative  as  against 
Privilege :  were  our  Tories  ;  adverse  to  our  Whigs. 


350  POLITICAL    PAPERS. 

Their  long,  compelled  abstinence  from  share  in  Govern 
ment  affairs  whetted  the  edge  of  these  opinions  in  dislike  of 
Legislative  Supremacy  :  the  more  so,  as  the  Legislature,  for  a 
long  period,  was  under  the  control  of  their  opponents. 

When  General  Jackson  raised  that  long  embargo  which 
had  been  laid  upon  their  hopes,  and  opened  the  gates  to  their 
admission,  they  rushed  tumultuously  into  his  antechamber ; 
filled  his  closet,  eager  and  starving  men,  with  hearts  in  nowise 
softened  by  the  weary  training  of  their  adversity  ;  with  inordi 
nate  craving  for  power  and  place  ;  with  inveterate  purpose  to 
counsel  their  patron  to  High  Prerogative  Doctrine. 

I  will  not  say  that  all  who  came,  or  were  called,  to  General 
Jackson  in  those  days,  came  with  these  passions  or  strove  to 
imbue  him  with  these  opinions.  There  were  some  honorable 
exceptions  :  men  of  conscience,  of  high  order  of  intellect,  of 
ardent  patriotism,  of  sound  Whig  views  among  them.  Such  men 
gradually  fell  off  as  the  imposture  of  the  new  era  opened  upon 
them.  They  even  expostulated  with  the  Chief,  and  sought  to 
moderate  his  excess  :  fell  into  personal  dissension  with  him 
and  his  more  influential  advisers.  To  their  discretion,  per 
haps,  we  may  attribute  the  self-denial  and  liberal  tone  of  some 
of  the  earlier  messages  of  the  administration.  Finding  the 
President's  policy  ungenial,  they  fell  off  rapidly.  Not  one  re 
mained  to  witness  the  end  of  his  term.  The  others  stayed  be 
hind,  faithful  to  their  fixed  resolve  to  take  all  onice  that  could 
be  got,  and  to  flatter  the  Executive  into  every  dangerous  ex 
treme  of  power  which  the  popularity  of  the  Chief  might  bear. 
They  were  marvellously  successful.  Their  success  is  a  living 
record  of  their  diligence. 

While  they  fill  the  mind  of  the  President  with  pretensions 
more  than  monarchical,  they  amuse  the  people  with  promises 
more  than  Democratic.  Autocracy  in  substance  was  varnished 
over  with  a  transparent  wash  of  Jacobinism  in  profession. 
Ready  tools  were  at  hand  to  mould  public  opinion  into  what 
ever  shape  best  suited  their  views  :  dexterous  and  subservient 
men  who  were  hired  for  a  price.  Whatever  came  from  head- 


A   DEFENCE   OF   THE    WHIGS.  351 

quarters  came  ostentatiously  as  from  the  infallible  Democratic 
oracle.  Under  these  influences,  the  administration  of  General 
Jackson,  professing  to  be  ultra  Democratic,  became  impercep 
tibly,  but  speedily,  almost  regal  in  its  power — taking  the  ad 
miring  and  too  confident  country  at  un wares. 

Every  militant  Federalist — by  which  I  mean,  especially, 
those  of  "  The  Grudge" — straightway  got  into  office.  Scarcely 
one  escaped  reward.  Their  name  was  Legion.  They  became 
popular  declaimers  on  the  peculiar  virtues  of  Democracy,  and 
took  the  stump — the  noisiest  and  most  authentic  of  Demo 
crats  :  lent  their  aid  to  the  organization  of  "  The  Party  :"  were 
leaders  of  County,  District,  and  Town  meetings  ;  chairman 
of  the  Committee  ;  chief  paragraphists  ;  chief  movers  of  reso 
lutions  ;  chief  contrivers  of  whatsoever  canvass  ;  and  at  last — 
after  some  useless  blushings  and  awkward  displays  of  coyness 
— chief  denouncers  of  all  opponents  of  the  General  as  Feder 
alists  —  Blue  Lights  —  Hartford  Conventionists  —  when  the 
smoke  of  this  feu  de  joie  cleared  away,  the  older  Democrats 
rubbed  their  eyes,  and  found  the  best  offices  everywhere  in  the 
hands  of  these  abler  Democrats  ! 

It  was  a  singular  sight  to  behold.  Not  less  singular  was 
it  to  see  how  docile,  how  passive  under  their  new  leaders,  be 
came  the  good-natured  old  Democracy  —  such  at  least  as 
wore  the  Jackson  colors  :  gentle  "  an  it  were  any  sucking 
dove." 

I  think  the  elder  Adams  made  some  such  remark  as  this — 
at  least  to  this  import,  for  I  do  not  remember  his  words,  and 
would  rather  express  it  in  my  own  :  When  a  Federalist,  toward 
the  decline  of  life,  turns  Jacobin,  for  the  sake  of  preferment, 
we  shall  have  occasion  to  note  two  things  :  First,  a  more  adroit 
and  effective  demagogueism  than  may  be  developed  in  any  oth 
er  species  of  demagogue  whatever  :  Second,  we  shall  find  a 
man  who  is  very  soon  thereafter  to  have  a  high  place,  both  in 
rank  and  emolument,  as  a  Democrat  ;  who  will  jostle  many 
honest  and  simple  Democrats  out  of  the  way ;  and  who  will  af 
ford  the  best  conceivable  specimen  of  that  natural  character 


352  POLITICAL  PAPI<:RS. 

which  is  made  up  by  the  meeting  of  both  ends — an  aristocratic 
Locofoco.  This  last  clause  Mr.  Adams  would  undoubtedly 
have  added,  if  Locofocoism  had  been  invented  in  his  day.  But 
at  that  time  Lucifer  had  not  got  so  up  in  the  world — had  not 
made  such  matches. 

By  such  teachers  and  teachings,  General  Jackson — a  most 
apt  and  willing  scholar — became,  of  all  Presidents,  the  most 
distinguished  as  a  High  Prerogative  President :  of  all  Presi 
dents,  the  only  one  who  had  systematically  endeavored  to  in 
vade  and  humble  the  Legislative  department  of  the  Govern 
ment. 

Is  it  to  be  marvelled  that  when  his  administration  became 
so  imperial  in  its  doctrine ;  when  the  great  multitude  of  his 
supporters  fell  into  such  blind  toleration  of  him  and  his  pre 
tended  Executive  rights ;  when  such  trenchant  blows  were 
dealt  at  the  old  Representative  Legislative  Privilege  —  the  Priv 
ilege  of  the  People  ;  when  the  Journal  of  the  Senate  was  blot 
ted  at  his  bidding,  and  proceedings  expunged  from  the  record, 
by  an  act  scarcely  less  arbitrary  than  that  of  James  of  England, 
who  tore  away  the  offensive  leaf  from  the  Journal  of  the  Com 
mons  with  his  own  hand  ;  when  the  odious  Veto  was  conjured 
up  from  its  dead  sleep,  or,  from  an  exanimate  body,  was  made 
a  living,  mischievous  thing ;  when  numbers  of  the  people  had 
sunk  into  such  pliant  partisans  as  to  strike  against  their  own 
rights  ;  when,  with  all  our  present  experience,  such  wretched 
cant  could  be  preached  and  endured,  as  that  the  Veto  was  an 
invaluable  Conservative  Principle  to  save  the  people  against 
themselves,  against  their  own  folly  and  incapacity,  to  save  them 
by  interposing  the  will  and  command  of  a  chief  against  their, 
the  people's  own  will  and  command,  as  matured  and  uttered 
through  their  own  chosen  organs,  their  Representative  :  Is  it 
to  be  marvelled,  when  such  things  were  witnessed,  such  things 
heard  and  vindicated  on  the  public  rostrum,  in  the  Senate 
House,  read  in  the  Press,  and  applauded  for  political  wisdom 
by  supple  Legislators  and  congregated  hosts  of  obsequious 
worshippers — that  the  sturdy  old  Whig  spirit  of  1776  should 


A   DEFENCE   OF   THE    WHIGS.  353 

again  kindle  its  fire  on  every  hill  and  in  every  valley  where  a 
friend  of  freedom  had  ever  pitched  his  tent  ? 

Grievously  has  the  nation  expiated  the  idolatry  which  per 
suaded  them  to  endure  these  innovations  upon  the  principles 
in  which  our  Republican  government  was  established  :  is  even 
yet  expiating  it.  What  tribulation  and  disaster  have  fallen  to 
our  lot  ?  — With  God's  bounty  thrown  lavish  over  our  land ; 
with  all  needful  resource  of  happiness  and  strength  j  with 
brave,  strong  men  fit  for  all  service  •  with  an  upright  and  in 
telligent  yeomanry — such,  as  a  better  have  never  been  bred  on 
any  soil — what  has  been  our  doom  ?  Let  any  man  calmly  tell 
it  over.  Poverty,  debt,  bankruptcy,  official  default,  faction,  dis 
couragement  in  all  kind  of  labor,  obstruction  of  the  channels 
of  industry,  suspected  faith,  repudiation — Dorrism — what  evil 
in  the  magazine  of  evils  is  left  behind  ?  All  this  in  the  bo 
som  of  a  frugal,  honest,  thrifty  Christian  country ! — fatal  mis 
chance  of  unwise  government ! 

Truly  has  that  looked-for  day  of  evil  retribution  come,  when 
"  the  Democracy"  have  been  coupled  like  hounds  and  the  leash 
held  in  Federal  hands ! — day  long  prayed  for,  now  enjoyed  by 
many. 

VIII. 

DOUBTFULNESS    OF   THE    WHIG   PRINCIPLES. 

It  was  a  poor  device  of  the  enemy  to  complain,  in  1840, 
that  the  Whigs  were  a  party  without  principles.  Their  princi 
ples  are  written  in  that  long  history  of  which  I  have  made  but 
a  brief  abstract.  Every  man  in  this  nation,  who  had  given  his 
mind  to  public  affairs,  was  aware  that  the  Whig  party  was  re 
organized  in  1830,  as  in  1776  it  was  organized,  to  resist  Exec 
utive  encroachment.  All  men  have  not  fully  weighed  the  im 
port  of  those  public  transactions  to  which  I  have  alluded,  and 
taken  them  to  heart  as  the  American  heritors  of  Anglo-Saxon 
liberty  should  : — else  there  would  have  been  a  universal  flock 
ing  of  all  true  Republicans  to  the  Whig  standard.  No  candid 
and  sincere  lover  of  rational,  repnblican  liberty,  I  affirm,  can 


354  POLITICAL    PAPERS. 

contemplate  the  encroachments  of  Executive  power,  which  we 
have  witnessed  in  the  last  twelve  years,  without  a  resolute  re 
volt  in  his  heart  against  that  whole  system  of  political  domina 
tion  by  which  these  encroachments  have  been  compassed. 
That  there  was  not  such  universal  revolt  may  be  set  down  to 
the  artful  engendering  and  skilful  control  of  faction  whereby 
men's  passions  have  mastered  their  judgments. 

It  was  a  shrewd  device  of  the  enemy,  in  1840,  to  strive  to 
compel  the  Whigs  to  put  the  issue  of  that  conflict  upon  this  or 
that  single  measure  of  legislation  :  to  drive  them  off  the  broad 
platform  of  the  great  fundamental  Whig  doctrine — the  asser 
tion  of  the  Representative  Privilege  against  the  Executive  Pre 
rogative — and  crowd  them  upon  the  narrow  stage  of  one  ques 
tion  of  the  day — a  Bank. 

The  Whig  party  were  embodied  with  two  grand  aims. 

The  first,  and  immeasurably  the  greatest,  was  that  which 
we  have  presented,  namely,  the  reassertion  of  the  fundamental 
doctrine  of  the  Revolution  of  1776  ;  the  protection  of  this  na 
tion  and  its  posterity  against  the  imperious  claims  and  mis 
chievous  precedents  made  and  established  by  General  Jack 
son  and  his  partisans,  to  the  enlargement  of  Executive  and  the 
diminution  of  Legislative  power. 

To  this  end,  the  Whigs  contended, 

For  the  single  Presidential  term  : 

For  the  Reduction  of  Patronage  : 

For  the  Separation  of  the  Purse  and  Sword  : 

For  the  rigid  supervision  of  all  Executive  officers  by  Con 
gress  : 

For  free  Legislative  debate  and  Legislative  comment  on 
the  conduct  of  all  public  officers  : 

For  the  non-interference  of  Government  officers  in  the  elec 
tions  ;  and 

For  the  modifications  of  the  Veto  Power. 

These  were  all  pervading,  paramount  questions.  The  Whigs 
of  the  Union  were  united  upon  them  to  a  man .  They  had  battled 
for  them,  in  and  out  of  Congress,  ever  since  1830.  The  whole 


A    DEFENCE   OF   THE   WHIGS.  355 

nation  understood  how  these  questions  were  identified  with 
the  Whig  party.  No  man  wanted  a  manifesto  in  1840  to  ap 
prise  him  that  these  were  fundamental,  essential  and  absorb 
ing  questions  in  the  Whig  movement.  They  had  been  pro 
claimed  through  every  organ  of  Whig  sentiment,  in  every  form 
of  iteration,  for  ten  years.  In  importance,  they  were  infinitely 
above  every  question  of  mere  policy.  They  were  organic,  be 
longing  to  the  structure  of  the  government.  They  concerned 
our  posterity  as  well  as  the  present  generation.  They  belong 
ed  to  the  perpetuation  of  free  Republican  government,  and  the 
handing  down  of  our  institutions  to  our  children  as  we  received 
them  from  our  fathers.  The  second  aim  of  the  Whig  embodi 
ment  was  to  relieve  the  country  from  the  evils  of  bad  legisla 
tion  with  which  it  had  been  afflicted  by  the  party  in  power. 

This  was  a  purpose  involving  ordinary  measures  of  legisla 
tion  :  a  purpose  of  policy,  of  expediency,  depending,  in  great  de 
gree,  upon  the  incidents  and  occasions  of  the  day  ;  and  subject 
to  be  influenced  in  some  degree  by  local  and  temporary  views. 

In  this  field,  although  a  great  and  surprising  approach  to 
unanimity  prevailed  among  the  Whig  party. — considering  the 
impressions  of  sectional  interest  natural  to  so  broad  a  surface 
as  that  covered  by  the  States  of  the  Union — yet  entire  consent 
of  opinion,  in  reference  to  all  measures  of  relief,  never  was  ex 
pected.  Nor  was  it  asserted  to  exist.  The  leading  measures 
proposed  and  advocated  were, 

A  Protective  Tariff, 

Distribution  of  the  proceeds  of  the  Public  Lands, 

Improvement  of  the  face  of  the  Country  by  roads  and 
Canals, 

Regulation  of  the  Currency  through  a  National  Bank — and 

Reduction  of  the  Public  Expenses. 

On  these  measures,  it  may  be  affirmed,  nine-tenths  of  the 
Whig  party  were  unanimous.  In  regard  to  some  of  them,  a 
small  number,  it  is  true,  were  found  dissenting. 

It  is  well  known  that  the  prejudices  of  Southern  opinion 
upon  the  Tariff  question,  which  equally  prevailed  among  the 


356  POLITICAL    PAPERS. 

Whigs  and  their  opponents,  had  enlisted  a  portion  of  the  South 
ern  Whigs  against  the  Protective  System,  and,  as  connected 
with  it,  the  question  of  the  Distribution. 

A  still  smaller  division  of  the  Whigs  have  opposed  a  Na 
tional  Bank. 

It  may  be  a  question  for  metaphysicians  to  divert  them 
selves  with, — to  what  extent  are  these  small  dissenting  frag 
ments  of  the  Whig  party  entitled  to  be  called  Whigs — but  it 
will  never  be  one  of  doubt,  while  those  fragments  concur  in 
the  great  and  primary  object  of  Whig  organization,  that  their 
attachment  to  the  Whig  party  is  worthy  of  the  praise  of  an  ex 
alted  patriotism, — the  more  exalted  as  it  consents  to  waive  and 
forego  its  wishes  in  regard  to  the  comparatively  minpr  ques 
tions  of  policy,  for  the  sake  of  the  graver  and  more  enduring 
principles  of  free  government  which  it  finds  in  jeopardy. 

These  divisions  of  opinion  among  the  Whigs  were  never 
secret,  nor  destined  to  be  made  secret.  There  can  be  no 
better  proof  of  the  integrity  of  a  party  than  such  tokens  of 
its  independence  as  are  atforded  by  the  frank  and  open  avowal 
of  dissent  where  unanimity  does  not  exist.  Such  dissent  pre 
sents  no  other  question  than  this — Is  the  dissenting  point  of 
sufficient  preponderance  to  overweigh  other  motives  to  con 
cur  ?  If  not,  the  concurrence  may  be  sincere  and  effective. — 
It  has  been  so  in  the  contest  ever  since  1830.  All  through 
that  contest  the  Whigs  have  had  occasion  to  feel  that,  in  the 
brotherhood  of  their  Southern  friends,  they  have  derived  all 
the  aid  and  comfort  to  their  cause  which  a  generous  gallantry 
and  the  purest  love  of  country  could  bestow. 

Could  it  be  said  that  the  Whig  party  had  no  principles  be 
cause  it  did  not  choose  to  cast  the  issue  of  its  great  contest 
upon  these  minor  questions,  wherein  some  dissent  existed, 
rather  than  upon  those  broad  doctrines  where  all  were  united  ? 
Was  it  not,  as  I  have  said,  an  ingenious  stratagem  of  the 
enemy,  when  he  sought  to  drive  us  into  the  narrow  fold  of 
these  questions  of  expediency,  while  we  stood  already  behind 
the  bulwarks  of  high  political  rights  ?  Should  we  not  have 


A    DEFENCE    OF    THE    WHIGS.  357 

been  laughed  at  as  shallow  simpletons  if  we  had  crept  into 
such  a  gull  trap  ? 

As  we  did  not  choose  to  hearken  for  advice  to  the  enemy 
and  make  him  the  issue  he  desired,  does  not  ever}-  one  re 
member  how  assiduously  he  set  about  making  it  for  us  ?  Was 
there  a  forum  in  1840,  a  bar-room,  a  cart  tail,  a  stump  rostrum, 
— was  there  a  conventicle  of  quidnuncs,  a  street  meeting,  or 
a  country  gathering  of  our  opponents  in  the  whole  canvass — 
nay,  was  there  any  such  in  any  previous  time  of  the  ten  years 
before,  that  the  burden  of  the  charge  against  the  Whigs  was 
not  that  their  great  purpose  was  to  establish  a  Bank,  make  a 
protective  Tariff  and  distribute  the  proceeds  of  the  lands  ? 
Such  universal  consent  of  opinion  as  to  the  Whig  designs, 
surely  furnished  no  excuse  to  those  who  made  the  accusation, 
that  we  had  left  them  in  the  dark  as  to  our  principles  or 
measures. 

For  our  principles  and  measures  we  gave  them  an  open 
history  of  ten  years'  active  labor.  In  that  history,  written  on 
every  page  of  our  public  journals  and  proclaimed  in  the  trum 
pet  notes  of  the  most  eloquent  men  of  the  land,  they  might 
read  and  did  read,  better  than  in  any  manifesto,  what  we 
aimed  at  and  what  we  meant  to  fight  for.  It  is  the  sheer  hy 
pocrisy  of  your  scurvy  politician  to  affect  not  to  see  what  was 
so  easy  to  be  seen  : — so  much  intended  and  contrived  to  be 
seen.  And  miserable  cant  was  it,  in  that  day  of  1840,  to 
complain  that  the  Whig  army  came  into  the  field  banneriess 
and  objectless,  or  having  no  written  motto  on  their  banner  and 
no  avowed  object  in  their  war. 

Our  principles  then,  as  now,  were  known  at  every  fireside 
in  the  Union. 

Is  it  necessary  we  should  make  Proclamation  now,  of  what 
we  fight  for  in  Forty- Four  ? 

Does  any  man  want  to  know  what  the  Whigs  are  aiming 
at?— 

In  earnest  ? 

I  opine  not. 


358  POLITICAL    PAPERS. 

IX. 

THE   CONSERVATIVE    ELEMENT. 

The  Veto  Power  has  grown,  in  the  last  twelve  years,  to  be 
a  most  formidable  and  overtopping  branch  of  the  Presidential 
Prerogative.  It  is,  in  the  late  practice  of  the  Executive,  dan 
gerously  disproportioned  to  the  other  powers  of  the  Constitu 
tion.  It  is  what  the  authors  of  our  Government  never  de 
signed  it  should  be :  what  indeed  they  fought  against  and 
would  not  tolerate  in  the  British  Crown  while  we  were  yet 
colonies.  The  oppressive  exercise  of  the  Veto,  as  I  have 
heretofore  said,  was  a  chief  cause  of  the  Revolution.  In  the 
latitude  claimed  for  it  it  is  unrepublican,  and  especially  offen 
sive  to  the  scheme  of  free  Government  as  understood  and 
maintained  by  the  Whigs.  The  modification  of  this  power 
has  consequently  become  a  distinguished  purpose  in  the  Whig 
action. 

It  is  true  it  was  not  unadvisedly  introduced  into  our  Con 
stitution.  There  was  reflection  and  debate  upon  it. 

Our  fathers  of  the  Revolution  were  not  altogether  disen 
thralled  from  the  formulas  of  the  Old  World.  The  marvel  is 
that  they  were  even  so  free  from  them.  The  Veto,  copied 
from  the  British  Constitution,  was  found  in  all  the  Colonial 
Settlements,  as  a  power  reserved  to  the  Crown.  The  men 
of  the  Revolution  thought  they  were  making  great  advances 
when  they  were  erecting  an  analogous  free  government  in  In 
dependent  America,  building  it  upon  a  democratic  basis  and 
retaining  as  much  of  the  English  form  as  they  held  to  be 
compatible  with  that  basis.  The  English  Veto  had  not  been 
exercised  for  a  hundred  years.  What  had  they  to  fear  in 
trusting  it  to  a  Republican  President  ? — Still,  there  were  many 
sturdy  and  wise  Republicans  who  feared. 

Let  us  see  what  we  can  gather  from  the  scant  record  of  the 
debate  on  this  topic  : 

It  seems  Dr.  Franklin  was  opposed  to  the  power  altogether. 
So  was  George  Mason  :  so  Roger  Sherman,  Pierce  Butler  and 


A    DEFENCE   OF    THE    WHIGS.  359 

Gunning  Bedford.  James  Wilson  and  Alexander  Hamilton 
were  in  favor  of  an  absolute  Veto.  Elbridge  Gerry  and  James 
Madison  were  for  the  Veto  with  a  qualification — subject  to  be 
overruled  by  a  vote  of  two-thirds  of  each  House. 

Colonel  Hamilton  thought  "  there  was  no  danger  of  such 
a  power  being  too  much  exercised."  He  said  "the  King  of 
England  had  not  exerted  his  negative  since  the  Revolution" 
—(1688). 

"  Mr.  Sherman  was  against  enabling  any  one  man  to  stop 
the  will  of  the  whole.  No  one  man  could  be  found  so  far 
above  all  the  rest  in  wisdom." 

"  Mr.  Madison  supposed  that  if  a  proper  proportion  of 
each  branch  should  be  required  to  overrule  the  objections 
of  the  Executive  it  would  answer  the  same  purpose  as  an  ab 
solute  negative.  It  would  rarely,  if  ever,  happen  that  the 
Executive,  constituted  as  ours  is  proposed  to  be,  would  have 
rirmness  enough  to  resist  the  Legislature  unless  backed  by  a 
certain  part  of  the  body  itself.  The  King  of  Great  Britain, 
with  all  his  splendid  attributes,  would  not  be  able  to  withstand 
the  unanimous  and  eager  wishes  of  both  Houses  of  Parlia 
ment.  To  give  such  a  prerogative  would  certainly  be  obnox 
ious  to  the  temper  of  this  Country — its  present  temper  at 
least." 

These  are  from  Mr.  Madison's  notes.  They  are  meagre 
enough. 

Hamilton  was  an  advocate  of  high  Prerogative.  He  pro 
fessed  to  fear  the  Legislature,  and  charged  it  with  a  tendency 
to  encroach  upon  the  Executive.  Now  hear  him,  speaking  of 
the  Veto,  in  that  number  of  The  Federalist  which  is  given  to 
this  subject.  "  The  superior  weight  and  influence  of  a  legis 
lative  body  in  a  free  government,  and  the  hazard  of  the  Exec 
utive  in  a  trial  of  strength  with  that  body,  afford  a  satisfactory 
security  that  the  negative  would  generally  be  employed  with  great 
caution ;  and  that  in  its  exercise  there  would  oftener  be  room 
for  a  charge  of  timidity  than  rashness." 

"  If  a  magistrate   so  powerful  and  so  well  fortified  as  a 


360  POLITICAL    PAPERS. 

British  monarch  would  have  scruples  about  the  exercise  of  the 
power  under  consideration,  how  much  greater  caution  may  be 
reasonably  expected  in  a  President  of  the  United  States 
clothed  for  the  short  period  of  four  years  with  the  Executive 
authority  of  a  Government  wholly  and  purely  Republican !" 

"  It  is  evident  there  would  be  greater  danger  of  his  not 
using  his  power  when  necessary,  than  of  his  using  it  too  often 
or  too  much." 

These  were  the  early  views  of  the  Veto  Power.  Is  it  not 
obvious  that  these  original  defenders  of  the  power  had  but  an 
inadequate  perception  of  the  uses  to  which  the  Veto  has  come 
latterly  to  be  applied  ?  The  Revolutionary  Presidents — the 
men  who  were  contemporary  with  the  beginning  of  this  Govern 
ment, — understood  and  used  the  power  as  it  was  intended — 
sparingly  and  with  abundance  of  caution.  How  have  our 
latter  day  Presidents  used  it  ?  Not  sparingly  and  with  caution, 
as  an  extraordinary  power  :  but  most  frequently,  and  a  familiar 
and  ordinary  power.  It  has  been,  of  late,  often  applied  to 
bills  which  were  passed  upon  most  mature  deliberation  :  it  has 
been  applied  to  bills  which  presented  no  questions  of  doubtful 
constitutionality,  which  threatened  no  invasion  of  Executive 
rights :  it  has  been  made  a  mere  instrument  of  Party  Domina 
tion  :  "  the  extreme  medicine"  of  the  Constitution — to  use 
Mr.  Buchanan's  phrase— has  come  to  be  its  daily  bread. 

I  dwell  on  these  matters  because  the  Whig  party  have  been 
slow  to  quarrel  with  the  qualified  negative  of  the  President. 
They  would  not  now  quarrel  with  it,  if  it  had  been  exercised  in 
conformity  with  the  original  design  of  its  adoption. 

In  theory  it  was  justified  as  a  rare  remedy  against  a  rare 
evil.  It  was  supposed  that  an  occasion  might  sometimes  arise 
in  which  a  bill  improvidently,  and  too  hastily,  passed  might  re 
quire  revision  ;  that  new  facts  might  come  to  light,  or  be  known 
to  the  President,  which  were  not  known  to  the  Legislature  while 
the  bill  was  under  consideration  ;  that  perchance,  even,  in  the 
unruliness  of  some  legislative  orgasm  the  manifest  rights  of  the 
Executive  might  be  assailed  ;  these  and  such  cases  as  these,  it 


A    DEFENCE   OF    THE    WIIIUS.  361 

was  conceived,  might  present  and  justify  a  necessity  in  the  Pres 
ident's  sending  the  bill  back  for  reconsideration  by  a  vote  of 
two  thirds.  Absolute  veto  was,  in  nowise,  to  be  endured.  The 
abuse  of  this  rarely-to-be-exerted  power,  it  was  believed,  was 
sufficiently  guarded  against  by  the  right  of  impeachment. 

Short-sighted  views  were  these,  as  all  men  must  confess  who 
contemplate  what  the  Veto  has  grown  to  be  in  the  late  practice 
of  the  Executive. 

To  judge  what  it  has  grown  to  be  in  practice,  we  ask  atten 
tion  to  two  topics : 

First,  That  this  Government  has  become  practically  and  in 
evitably  a  government  of  political  party  Ascendency. 

By  some  law  of  political  gravitation,  as  yet  unexplored,  par 
ties  invariably  settle  into  an  approximate  equilibrium  ;  so  near 
to  an  actual  equilibrium  as  to  leave  but  small  preponderance 
on  either  side  of  the  scale.  Such  a  thing  as  a  fixed,  durable 
majority  of  two  thirds  of  a  House  of  Representatives  and  Sen 
ate,  on  any  party  question,  may  be  deemed  so  improbable  as 
to  be  cast  out  of  the  computation  of  expected  events.  Very  far 
short  of  this  is  the  average  majority  of  any  House  of  Represen 
tatives  and  Senate  of  our  time. 

I  know  no  instance  of  it,  except  that  of  the  Land  Bill  and 
of  the  Specie  Circular, — and  these,  we  know,  were  not,  at  the 
time  of  their  passage,  party  questions,  although  they  grew  to 
be  so  afterward.  Two  thirds  of  both  Houses,  I  may  say  there 
fore,  in  no  case  of  party  difference  may  be  expected  to  concur. 
Which  being  true,  the  Veto  of  the  President  under  our  Consti 
tution,  is,  on  all  such  questions,  in  effect,  an  Absolute  Veto.  No 
submission  is  it  of  such  measure  for  reconsideration.  It  is  the 
ordering  back  of  such  measure  to  an  idle  ceremony  of  rejection 
— the  same  being  virtually  dead  before  such  idle  ceremony  is 
practised. 

Second,  That  the  inducements  and  instigations  to  the  ex 
hibition  of  this  Executive  Prerogative  will  be,  nine  cases  out  of 
ten,  mere  party  inducements  and  instigations.  A  President 
and  his  party  having  fallen  into  a  minority  in  Congress,  pre- 
16 


362  POLITICAL    PAPERS. 

sent  the  chief  category  in  which  the  Veto  will  be  exercised.  So 
long,  therefore,  as  the  party  of  the  President  amounts  to  more 
than  one  third  of  each  House,  he  and  they  can  use  the  Veto  to 
carry  their  measures,  or  prevent  the  majority  from  having  what 
they  desire.  This  is  the  ordinary  case,  indeed  the  only  con 
tingency  in  which  the  Veto  has  been  used  since  1830, — except 
the  case  of  the  Land  Bill,  and  of  the  Repeal  of  the  Specie  Cir 
cular. 

Now  as  it  requires  two  thirds  of  the  Senate  to  maintain  an 
impeachment,  or,  in  other  words,  as  one  Senator,  above  one 
third  of  that  body,  can  prevent  a  successful  impeachment,  it  is 
quite  evident  that  whatsoever  a  minority  in  Congress,  scantily 
numbering  more  than  one  third  of  each  House,  may  counsel  in 
regard  to  the  exercise  of  the  Veto,  that  they  may  save  the  Pres 
ident  harmless  in  doing  if  impeachment  should  follow  his  of 
fence.  From  all  which  it  follows  that,  in  the  cases  proposed, 
the  Veto  is  practically  absolute,  and  altogether  unchecked  by 
any  power  of  impeachment. 

If  there  be  two  hundred  members  in  the  House,  standing 
one  hundred  and  ten  on  one  side  of  a  question,  and  ninty  on 
the  other, — nay,  if  they  stand  any  thing  less  than  one  hundred 
and  thirty-three  on  the  majority  side,  or  any  thing  more  than 
sixty-six  on  the  minority  side,  then  the  Veto  on  the  bill,  the 
subject  matter  of  debate,  is  absolute.  Reconsideration,  in 
such  case,  is  a  barren  form  :  the  Minority  rules  the  Majority  by 
mere  frustration — by  faction  ;  and  the  will  of  the  people,  in 
this  a  professing  popular,  Republican  government,  is  restrain 
ed  and  forbidden  by  a  faction  having  the  President  at  its  head. 
And  for  this  abuse  impeachment  is  but  an  empty  threat. 

The  President  at  the  head  of  a  faction,  in  so  far  as  the 
Veto  is  concerned,  in  so  far  as  legislation  is  concerned,  is  king 
-r-more  of  a  king  than  the  Monarch  of  England  or  of  France, 
since  neither  of  these  monarchs  dare  hazard  the  Veto  where  our 
President  makes  it  his  daily  staff. 

If  the  Veto  be  necessary  to  protect  the  Executive  as  some 
say,  against  the  usurpation  of  the  Legislature,  then  there  is  no 


A   DEFENCE    OF    THE    WHIGS.  363 

good  reason  why  it  should  not  be  absolute  and  not  qualified. 
For  if  the  Executive  must  needs  be  protected  against  the  Legis 
lature,  there  is  as  good  cause  to  protect  it  against  two-thirds  as 
against  one  man  less  than  two  thirds.  If  the  legislative  body 
be  inclined  to  intrude  upon  the  President,  that  inclination  may 
be  on  one  side  of  the  House  as  well  as  the  other,  and  the  ar 
gument  would  be  that  he  should  be  armed  against  their  com 
bination. 

If  it  be  proper  that  the  President  should  be  the  power  in 
this  Government  to  arrest  all  laws  he  deems  unconstitutional 
— to  which  I  by  no  means  assent,  but  on  the  contrary  utterly 
repel — then  he  should  have  that  power  against  the  whole  Con 
gress,  and  not  only  against  a  portion  of  Congress  ;  since  his 
wisdom  is  quite  as  clear  in  opposition  to  one  as  in  opposition 
to  the  other.  If  one  hundred  and  thirty-two,  out  of  the  two 
hundred  supposed  by  us,  say  a  law  is  constitutional,  and  the  Pres 
ident  says  nay — then  his  nay  takes  effect.  If  one  hundred  and 
thirty-three  say  so,  his  nay  is  nugatory  ;  the  hundred  and  thirty- 
three  reaffirm  and  the  law  stands.  If  the  constitutionality  of 
laws  may  not  rest  with  the  Judiciary,  why  should  it  rest  with 
the  one  hundred  and  thirty-third  man  ?  If  it  should  rest  with 
the  President,  why  should  the  one  hundred  and  thirty-third 
man  take  it  away  from  him? — These  are  pregnant  questions. 

So  too  of  his  Prerogative — his  Executive  rights.  If  there 
be  good  reason  for  the  Veto  at  all  to  defend  these  rights,  there 
is  no  good  reason  for  the  qualification.  If  there  be  good  rea 
son  for  the  qualification,  there  is  none  for  the  Veto. 

A  right  in  the  President  to  send  a  measure,  for  good  cause 
shown,  back  to  the  Legislative  body  for  reconsideration,  there 
is  nothing  to  be  said  against.  It  is  no  more  than  giving  the 
President  an  opportunity  to  make  a  written  speech  on  the  sub 
ject  of  the  bill ;  to  suggest,  perhaps,  new  facts  ;  throw  out  new 
lights  ;  to  remonstrate,  it  may  be  ; — at  the  least,  to  give  the  na 
tion  his  views  on  matters  of  moment  to  the  public  good.  This 
is  but  a  respectful  deference  to  the  station  of  the  Chief  Magis 
trate,  salutary,  and,  for  all  purposes  of  defence  of  his  prerog- 


364:  POLITICAL    PAPERS. 

ative,  of  correction  of  improvident  legislation,  of  announcement 
of  constitutional  opinion  as  effective  and  remedial  as  that 
harsh  negative  which  but  provokes  unwholesome  revolt  in  the 
public  feeling  and  leads  to  discord :  more  effective  and  remedi 
al  than  this  harsh  negative,  because  temperate  persuasion  from 
the  Chief  Magistrate  is,  in  all  countries,  worth  more  than  com 
pulsion  on  the  opinions  of  the  people. 

Reconsideration,  sought  in  this  way,  ought  to  be  ordinary 
legislative  reconsideration  ;  as  in  all  other  cases  where  bills 
are  deliberated  upon  a  second  time, — with  this  addition  only, 
as  has  been  proposed, — That  when  the  President  sends  the 
bill  back  it  should  require  a  majority  of  the  whole  body — 
counting  absent  members  and  places  vacant — to  pass  it  again. 
The  President's  should  be  deemed  of  sufficient  weight  to  en 
title  it  to  stand,  unless  overruled  by  a  majority  of  Congress. 

So  far  we  may  safely  go.  Farther  we  may  not  safely  go, 
as  our  most  modern  Congressional  history  has  abundantly 
shown  us. 

Manifestly,  such  arguments  as  these  later  times  have  af 
forded  us,  and  which  I  have  unfolded  here,  did  not  occur  to 
the  authors  of  the  Constitution  when  they  discoursed  upon 
the  innocence  of  the  Veto.  These  did  not  occur,  because  in 
those  days  it  was  not  imagined  that  the  President  of  the 
United  States  would  ever  degrade  his  station  by  uniting  with 
a  faction  to  overthrow  a  law. 

Yet  such  has  experience  shown  the  Veto  to  be.  It  has 
been  applied  by  General  Jackson  to  sundry  Internal  Improve 
ment  bills :  it  has  been  applied  to  the  Bank  Bill,  to  the  Har 
bor  Bill,  the  Light  House  Bill,  and  to  others.  Its  effect  has 
been  anticipated  by  a  Removal  of  the  Deposits,  in  the  face  of  a 
resolution  of  Congress  adverse  to  the  removal,  and  a  significant 
threat  to  negative  any  bill  for  their  restoration.  It  has  been 
superseded  and  its  results  produced,  in  the  case  of  the  Land 
Bill  and  the  Repeal  of  the  famous  Specie  Circular,  by  suffering 
the  adjournment  to  occur  without  the  Presidential  signature. 

In  these  cases  of  the  Veto  it  was  not  pretended  that  the 


A    DEFENCE    OF    THE    WHIGS.  365 

legislation  was  hasty  or  indeliberate ; — that  new  facts  had 
come  to  the  knowledge  of  the  President ;  that  any  encroach 
ment  was  meditated  upon  the  rights  of  the  Executive.  They 
were  naked  party  questions,  the  President  and  his  party  being 
in  the  minority  in  both  Houses.  They  were  not  sent  back  to 
Congress  in  any  honest  hope  of  a  reconsideration.  It  was 
known  they  could  have  no  reconsideration  and  passage  by  a 
majority  of  two-thirds, — the  President's  party  being  more  than 
one-third.  They  were  sent  back  simply  to  be  rejected  by  the 
minority  ;  this  being  the  only  mode  by  which  a  President  and 
the  minority  could  disappoint  the  adverse  majority  in  their 
measures.  Not  even  did  this  avail  to  the  Land  Bill  and  the 
Repeal  of  the  Specie  Circular.  For  on  these,  more  than  two- 
thirds  had  voted  affirmatively.  If  the  President  had  truly 
desired  reconsideration  of  these,  as  the  Constitution  presumes, 
he  could  have  been  gratified.  But  such  reconsideration,  he 
knew,  would  have  resulted  in  the  passage  of  the  bills.  By 
no  means  wishing  this,  and  the  Constitution  providing  no  veto 
which  should  be  effectual,  in  such  case,  to  defeat  the  will  of 
the  majority,  the  President  had  recourse  to  a  new  device  to 
that  end,  and  found  it  in  laying  up  the  bills  in  his  desk  until 
after  the  adjournment — that  adjournment  occurring  within  the 
ten  days  allowed  him  by  the  Constitution.  In  the  common 
phrase,  he  pocketed  these  bills  which  he  could  not  veto, — and 
so  triumphed  again  over  the  Legislature. 

These  acts,  perpetrated  by  a  man  of  less  popularity  than 
General  Jackson,  might,  and  most  probably  would,  have  led 
to  serious  consequences.  In  his  case  they  led  to  bonfires, 
new  glorifications,  fresh  acts  of  worship,  fresh  excitements  of 
the  obsequious  spirit  of  Vassalship  throughout  the  whole  host 
of  men  who  sometimes  call  themselves  Democrats,  and,  both 
since  and  before  this  memorable  piece  of  servility,  have  been 
accustomed  to  boast  of  their  Republican  virtue  and  their  love 
of  Constitutional  Liberty. 

Truly,  no  true  Whig  was  found  among  these  glorifiers  !  It 
would  have  crimsoned  his  honest  brow  and  shamed  his  honest 


366  POLITICAL    PAPERS. 

heart  if,  on  any  accidental  impulse,  he  could  have  been  seen 
congregating  with  others  around  a  bonfire  kindled  to  illustrate 
the  glory  of  any  man  who  had  thus  desecrated  the  principles 
of  1776. 

Rather  would  such  flagrant  usurpation  call  back  to  his 
memory  the  sacred  resistance  of  his  ancestors,  and  admonish 
him  to  hasten  into  the  ranks  of  the  friends  of  free  government 
which  were  drawing  into  array  everywhere  within  the  circum 
ference  of  the  Union. 

It  is  now  found  out  by  those  who  dare  not  censure  aught 
that  Andrew  Jackson  has  ever  done,  that  this  perversion  of  a 
power  which  the  Constitution,  though  granting  it  in  the  letter, 
never  designed  to  grant  in  the  spirit  in  which  it  has  been 
practiced,  is  a  great  Conservative  Element  in  Free  Government. 

An  intrepid  piece  of  flattery,  this ! 

To  guard  Republican  institutions  we  must  create  a  Party 
Despot !  To  conserve  Democracy  we  must  arm  a  self-willed 
Autocrat  with  power  to  silence  the  only  democratic  portion  of 
the  Government, — the  Legislative  Power  !  To  show  that  the 
people  are  capable  of  self-government,  we  provide  them  a 
master  who  shall  say — "  This  I  consent  you  may  do  : — that,  I 
do  not  consent !"  To  show  what  wisdom  there  is  in  popular 
suffrage,  we  disallow  its  organs  to  speak,  unless  they  have  first 
found  out  what  is  palatable  to  the  Chief ! 

Verily,  as  we  have  said  before,  "  the  Democracy"  have 
been  coupled  like  hounds,  and  the  leash  is  held  in  the  hands 
of  a  master  ! 

A  Conservative  Element !  The  Veto  leaves  the  law  as  it 
was  before,  say  the  flatterers  of  him  who  so  magisterially  used 
the  power.  It  only  prevents  change.  It  conserves  the  old 
order  of  things. 

Truly  !  Is  it  so  ?  If  the  yearly  appropriation  bill  is  ve 
toed,  what  is  conserved  ?  The  old  order  of  things  ?  No.  The 
objects  to  be  preserved  by  the  appropriation  perish.  The 
navy  crumbles.  The  army  is  disbanded.  The  fortifications 
fall  clown.  The  Courts  are  closed. 


A    DEFENCE    OF    THE    WHIGS.  367 

A  law  abolishing  a  War  establishment  is  Vetoed.  In  such 
case,  what  is  conserved  ?  An  army  that,  perchance,  may  be 
ready  and  willing  to  help  that  same  Veto  to  a  little  more 
vitality. 

A  Tariff  law  expires  by  limitation,  as  happened  in  1842  : 
the  bill  to  revive  it  is  negatived.  What  does  Conservative 
Element  in  this  strait  ?  Leaves  Industry  to  perish  ;  leaves 
Revenue  in  decay ;  leaves  Debt  to  grow  apace ;  leaves  Com 
merce,  leaves  Agriculture,  leaves  Manufactures  in  ruins.  A 
rare  Conservative  Element !  How  long  shall  charlatans  and 
hypocrites  abuse  the  generous  ear  and  confiding  heart  of  our 
America ! 

This  same  Veto  power,  I  affirm,  has  grown  to  be  a  great 
nuisance.  To  it,  we  may  trace,  distinctly  enough,  some  very 
conspicuous  griefs.  To  the  Veto  of  the  Bank,  that  revelry  of 
State  banking  which  made  the  promises  of  paper  money  thick 
<;  as  notes  in  the  sunbeam" — "  false  as  dicers'  oaths :"  to  the 
frustration  of  the  Land  Bill  by  laying  it  by,  and  by  the  Veto 
of  it  afterward,  we  trace  the  surplus  revenue,  the  distribution 
of  that  surplus,  the  gorging  of  all  the  channels  of  trade  with 
plethora  of  speculation,  the  universal  downfall  of  credit. 

Somewhat  significant  these  mischiefs  on  this  country  of  ours  ! 
— especially  being  come  of  such  parentage  as  that  Conservative 
Element,  which  certain  politicians  of  these  days  laud  so  much. 

This  Veto  has  arisen  from  one  man's  Egotism.  I  hold  no 
man's  Egotism  to  be  Conservative  in  this  Government.  In  the 
name  of  rational,  Republican  Liberty,  let  us  have  done  with 
all  Egotism  of  Presidents ! 

The  One  Man  Power  has  crept  forth  a  bastard  changeling 
from  the  cradle  of  the  Constitution.  Scotch  it  as  a  snake. 

How  naturally  party  madness  sanctifies  error  !  This  same 
Veto,  being  a  fiery  whip  to  chastise  the  Democracy,  has  grown 
to  be  a  symbol  and  a  badge  of  fealty  with  that  same  now  cra 
ven,  crest-fallen, — once  proud  and  indomitable  Democracy. 
No  P.  P.  "  clerk  of  this  Parish,"  accustomed  to  swell  his  puny 
dimensions  in  presence  of  his  choristers, — being,  by  some 


308  POLITICAL    PAPERS. 

freak  of  fortune  lifted  up  into  a  fussy,  frothy  Mayor  of  a  Cor 
poration, — but  must  play  off  upon  his  Board  of  Aldermen  his 
little  Veto,  aping  the  Great  Veto,  and  must  show  up  the  Con 
servative  Element  of  his  yeasty  wisdom,  as  more  orthodox 
and  Dogberryish,  more  "  sensible  and  desertless,"  than  the 
United  Wisdom  of  their  Worships  in  conclave.  "  This  Pump 
at  the  corner  shall  not  have  a  new  sucker.  By  virtue  of  Con 
servative  Element  I  forbid  it.  Let  the  said  Pump  henceforth 
be  conserved  suckerless  !" 

Hero  of  New  Orleans,  into  what  dismal  depth  of  sublime 
inanity  hast  thou  not  plunged  us  !  Our  Pump  at  the  corner, 
out  of  thy  Egotism,  goes  without  a  sucker ! — Our  Mayor,  tick 
led  by  the  fancy  of  thy  Prerogative,  will  not  sign  the  Bill.  Amaz 
ing  Mayor,  how  cunningly  hast  thou  made  the  cup  of  thy  pop 
ularity  to  overflow  ! 

Have  the  Councils  the  courage  to  take  this  matter  in  hand, 
and  save  us  our  Pump  and  Charter?  By  no  means,  if  they  be 
of  the  true  stripe.  Your  good  Democrat  of  these  days  bows  to 
Conservative  Element.  He  affirms  that  Dogberry  was  set  up 
to  save  the  people  against  themselves.  A  pill  to  prevent  sur 
feit  of  Freedom. 

While  such  whimsies  are  in  the  brains  of  the  Democracy, 
the  reform  will  cost  us  a  struggle.  But  we  will  have  it. 

X. 

CONTEST  OF  1840. 

Whatever  may  be  said  about  the  contest  of  1840,  no  one 
believes  that  it  was  not  conducted  by  the  Whigs  upon  the  ad 
vocacy  of  great  principles,  interesting  both  to  the  organization 
and  policy  of  this  Government.  That  man  has  great  hardihood 
in  his  contempt  for  the  sentiment  of  the  people,  and  great  con 
tempt  for  the  people  themselves  who,  after  the  experiences  of 
1840,  affirms  that  the  multitudes  of  American  citizens,  whose 
votes  made  that  famous  majority  of  1840,  were  stirred  up  to  this 
great  impulse  by  no  estimate  of  patriotic  duty,  but  only  by  the 
noise  and  pageantry  of  music  and  processions.  Republican 


A    DEFENCE    OF    THE    WHIGS.  369 

government  has  a  slender  guarantee  in  the  minds  of  the  men 
who  think  and  affirm  thus.  Popular  wisdom  is  a  paltry  mat 
ter  in  their  reckoning !  There  are  men  in  this  Republic  and 
always  have  been  men  in  it,  who  are  accustomed  so  to  deride 
the  manifested  opinion  of  the  majority — to  deride  it  whenever 
manifested  against  their  own  computations  of  personal  or  party 
advantage  :  but  these  men  are,  by  no  means,  Democrats  in  truth, 
whatever  they  may  be  in  profession  :  by  no  means  friends  of  free 
Representative  Government  They  contemn  the  people  and 
abhor  the  people's  impulses.  Yet  this  was  the  case  of  most  of 
the  party  leaders  of  that  party  which  was  defeated  in  1840  ;  was 
the  case  with  many  clamorous  followers  of  those  leaders.  Here 
in  we  may  see  some  very  visible  workings  of  the  leaven  which 
leavened  the  administration  of  General  Jackson.  These  re 
proofs  against  a  majority,  and  revilings  of  popular  judgment, 
are  but  the  out-bubbling  of  that  peccant  matter  wherewith  the 
dominant  party  of  1828  was  inoculated,  and  with  which  the 
remnant  of  that  party  is  still  diseased. 

In  the  selection  of  the  candidates  of  1840  the  Whig  party 
have  found  a  great  calamity  and  a  great  disappointment.  A 
calamity  in  the  death  of  him  they  chose  for  President ;  a  disap 
pointment  in  him  they  made  Vice-President. 

I  will  not  say  how  these  disasters  came  upon  us  or  how  they 
might  have  been  avoided.  It  is  puerile  to  complain  when  the 
event  is  without  remedy. 

It  is  a  difficult  thing  in  a  popular  government,  the  very  life 
of  which  consists  in  free  thought  and  many  opinions,  to  give  to 
a  great  citizen, — one  who  is  great  for  his  ability,  for  his  integ 
rity,  and  great  for  his  useful  service — the  prominency  and  sup 
port  to  which  he  is  entitled.  A  long  life  of  public  duty  makes 
friends  ;  it  also  makes  enemies,  and  men  sometimes  grow  too 
prominent  by  their  merits.  In  such  cases  it  is  apt  to  occur  that 
the  asperity  of  opponents  becomes  unduly  sharpened  against  the 
man  highest  in  the  applause  of  his  friends ;  and  that  asperity 
turns  busily  to  the  labor  of  detraction  so  as  greatly  to  influence 
public  ieeling  against  him. 


370  POLITICAL    PAPERS. 

This  was  the  estimate  which  many  made,  when  the  ques 
tion  of  our  candidates  for  1840  was  in  agitation,  to  the  dis 
advantage  of  the  man  whom  nine  Whigs  out  of  ten  desired 
to  see  set  up  for  the  Presidency.  We  had  a  man  in  those  days 
whose  name  alone  was  a  proclamation  of  the  whole  Whig  creed. 
It  is  useless  to  ask  why  the  Convention  at  Harrisburg  did  not 
nominate  him.  Whether  there  was  an  evil  eye  resting  on  his 
greatness  ;  whether  some  men  feared  the  too  great  embitter- 
ment  of  the  adversary  party  against  him  ;  whether  a  candidate 
of  more  bland  and  conciliatory  popularity  were  safest  in  the 
emergency,  are  topics  I  am  not  called  on  to  discuss  : — it  is 
enough,  that  for  reasons,  good  or  bad,  he  was  passed  by. 
Many  judicious  men,  multitudes  of  warm-hearted  Whigs,  regret 
ted  it.  One  man,  it  is  said,  in  the  Convention,  shed  tears 
ov^er  it. 

General  William  Henry  Harrison  was  selected.  A  great 
and  venerable  name  !  If  disappointment  could  find  compensa 
tion  in  any  alternative,  here  it  was  entitled  to  expect  it.  The 
mild  virtue  and  stainless  life  of  the  chief ;  the  grateful  service 
of  youth,  manhood,  prime  and  old  age,  in  camp  and  council, 
lavished  for  his  country  ;  the  benevolence  and  genial  charity 
of  his  temper  ;  his  open  hand  and  open  heart ;  his  honest  and 
eager  love  of  his  native  land  ;  his  prodigal  and  even  thriftless 
affection  for  humanity — all  these  made  up  a  sum  of  compensa 
tion  which  speedily  wiped  away  all  disappointment  and  sub 
dued  all  regret.  None  so  forward  to  allay  this  regret  as  that 
man  upon  whom  all  early  expectation  rested  :  he  was  the'  first 
to  express  his  content  in  the  nomination,  and  to  pledge  his 
faith  to  the  contest. 

And  so  it  fell  out  that  General  Harrison  was  made  the 
Whig  candidate  of  1840,  for  the  Presidency. 

Why  John  Tyler  was  made  the  candidate  for  the  Vice- Pres 
idency, — let  those  answer  who  did  it ! 

So  far  as  they  were  acquainted  with  him,  they  have  a  heavy 
reckoning  to  make  to  the  country.  So  far  as  total  ignorance 
of  the  true  character  of  the  man,  of  his  capacity,  of  his  faith, 


A    DEFENCE    OF    THE    \VIIIGS. 

temper,  affections,  of  his  political  or  personal  opinions,  of  any 
thing  genuine  belonging  to  him — so  far  as  ignorance  of  all 
these  may  excuse  the  Whig  party  in  giving  him  their  confi 
dence,  they  may  be  excused : — no  farther.  I  acknowledge,  for 
my  own  part,  a  grievous  delinquency. 

I  suppose  it  may  be  said,  with  entire  truth,  in  respect  to  the 
mass  of  the  Whigs,  that,  for  the  most  part,  they  knew  very  lit 
tle  of  Mr.  Tyler  and  his  opinions ; — that  they  cared  less, — never 
contemplating  the  event  of  his  succession  :  that,  as  he  pro 
fessed  to  be  the  friend  of  their  friend,  Mr.  Clay  ; — was  anxious 
for  his  nomination, — they  had  no  doubt  that  he  was  a  Whig, 
and  would  do  the  duty  of  a  Whig  whatever  might  betide  :  that 
as  he  had  been  on  the  Whig  ticket  for  the  Vice-Presidency 
once  before,  and  came  to  Harrisburg  as  a  member  of  the  Whig 
Convention,  he  thereby  proclaimed  himself  to  be  a  Whig,  and 
could,  without  dishonor,  be  nothing  else  :  especially  that  he 
could  not  be  a  secret  enemy  to  the  Whigs  and  harbor  an  un- 
clivulged  purpose  in  his  mind  to  betray  them,  if  ever  they 
should  trust  him. 

I  have  no  better  account  to  give  of  this  selection,  deplora 
ble,  disastrous,  as  it  has  been.  Would  to  God  that  all  record 
of  it  might  be  forever  effaced  from  our  annals ! 

The  battle  of  1840  was  fought  and  won.  The  Whig  party 
came  into  power  high  in  hopes,  frank  in  promise,  deeply  in 
earnest  to  do  every  thing  for  the  renovation  of  the  decayed 
prosperity  of  the  country. 

The  defeated  party,  in  retiring  from  power,  did  every  thing 
they  could  to  embarrass  their  successors.  They  had  drained 
the  Treasury  ;  they  had  created  a  debt ; — they  left  large 
amounts  due  in  various  branches  of  service  without  provision. 
They  had  exhausted  all  reserved  funds  of  government.  They 
saw  the  duties  on  the  lowest  verge  of  the  Compromise  of  1833, 
and  made  no  effort  to  supply  the  deficiency  this  was  certain  to 
produce.  They  had  issued  large  amounts  of  paper  money  to  be 
redeemed  during  the  year, — these  issues  being,  in  fact,  but  the 
renewal  of  old  debts — and  they  had  created  no  fund  for  their 


372  POLITICAL    PAPERS. 

redemption.  Trade  was  in  decay,  industry  was  overthrown, 
credit  was  gone.  "  It  seemed" — as  an  eloquent  member  of 
the  House  of  Representatives  said — "  matters  having  become 
so  inextricably  bad,  as  if  the  party  had  got  itself  beaten 
on  purpose" 

Upon  this  wreck  of  affairs  the  Whigs  had  to  begin  their 
great  labor. 

General  Harrison  summoned  around  him  a  cabinet  distin 
guished  for  its  ability,  distinguished  for  its  possession  of  the 
confidence  of  the  Whig  party.  The  Executive,  thus  organized, 
called  to  their  aid  the  Legislature,  who  were  ordered  to  con 
vene  at  the  earliest  moment. 

One  month  after  the  installation,  the  Whigs  were  struck  mute 
by  the  death  cf  the  President  :  event  all  unlocked  for,  unpro 
vided  against ;  sorrowful  on  many  accounts,  but  most  calami 
tous  for  its  first  and  greatest  consequence — the  exaltation  of 
him  whom  the  accidents  of  the  Harrisburg  Convention  had 
brought  upon  the  ticket  for  the  Vice-Presidency. 

In  the  universal  outbreak  of  the  national  grief  every  one 
seemed  to  wake  up  suddenly  to  the  inquiry,  Who  and  what  is 
John  Tyler  ? 

He  made  speedy  answer  for  himself.  "You  have  but  ex 
changed  one  Whig  for  another."  These  words  were  among 
his  first  utterances  at  Washington  : — even  at  the  funeral  of 
Harrison. 

The  only  point  upon  which  any  anxiety  for  Mr.  Tyler's 
Whig  principles  was  supposed  to  have  a  foundation,  was  upon 
the  question  of  the  Bank.  In  the  Senate  of  the  United  States 
he  had  made  a  mitigated  opposition  to  the  Bank  :  an  opposi 
tion  consisting  of  one  part  scruple  and  three  parts  praise.  He 
had  spoken  there  in  terms  of  warm  commendation  of  the  Bank, 
and  especially  of  the  beneficence  of  its  exchanges.  "  I  should 
as  soon  complain  of  the  ocean  for  furnishing  facilities  of  inter 
communication  between  distant  nations,  as  to  complain  of  any 
other  agent  employed  in  furnishing  similar  facilities  to  the  ex 
changes  of  the  country." — A  strong  figure  !  Then  again — "  If 


A    DEFENCE    OF    TTIE    WHIGS.  373 

the  Constitution  authorized  its  creation,  no  man,  with  the  ex 
perience  of  the  past,  could  well  doubt  the  propriety  of  a  well- 
regulated  and  well-guarded  bank. 

These  were  opinions  spoken  in  the  Senate  in  1834.  The 
public  were  reminded  of  them  in  this  juncture,  when  men  were 
so  anxious  to  know  what  would  be  the  course  of  Mr.  Tyler  on 
this  Whig  question. 

In  the  midst  of  this  anxious  concern,  the  Vice-President, — 
now  having  come  to  the  head  of  the  Government, — put  forth 
an  address  to  the  people.  It  is  very  significant  in  reference 
to  the  prevailing  doubts.  "  The  public  interest  demands  that 
if  any  war  has  existed  between  the  Government  and  the  Cur 
rency  it  shall  cease."  "  I  shall  promptly  give  my  sanction  to 
any  constitutional  measure  which,  originating  in  Congress,  shall 
have  for  its  object  the  restoration  of  a  sound  circulating  medi 
um,  so  essentially  necessary  to  give  confidence  in  all  the 
transactions  of  life,  to  secure  to  industry  its  just  and  adequate 
rewards,  and  to  re-establish  the  public  prosperity.  In  de 
ciding  upon  the  adaptation  of  any  such  measure  to  the  end 
proposed,  as  well  as  its  conformity  to  the  Constitution,  I  shall 
resort  to  the  fathers  of  the  Great  Republican  School  for  ad 
vice  and  instruction,  to  be  drawn  from  their  sage  views  of  our 
system  of  Government  and  the  light  of  their  ever-glorious  ex 
ample." 

He  had  said,  in  private,  to  several  friends,  that  his  opinion 
on  the  constitutionality  of  a  Bank  had  undergone  a  change. 
Indeed,  we  may  infer  as  much  as  this  from  a  letter  written  by 
him  to  the  Henrico  Committee,  during  the  Canvass  of  1840. 

"  There  is  not  in  the  Constitution  any  express  grant  of  pow 
er  for  such  purpose,  and  it  could  never  be  constitutional  to  ex 
ercise  that  power  save  in  the  event  the  powers  granted  to  Con 
gress  could  not  be  carried  into  effect  without  resorting  to  such 
an  institution."  He  had  before  admitted  what  we  have  quo 
ted  from  his  speech  in  1834 — "no  man,  with  the  experience  of 
the  past,  could  well  doubt  the  propriety  of  a  well-regulated  and 
well-guarded  bank.1'  It  is  obvious  that  in  1840,  with  these 


374  POLITICAL    PAPERS. 

opinions,  he  was  very  near  his  conversion  to  a  Bank : — three 
parts  out  of  four,  he  was  for  it  certainly. 

But  what  did  he  mean  by  referring,  in  his  Inaugural  Ad 
dress,  to  "  the  Ever-Glorious  Example"  of  the  Fathers  of  the 
Republican  School  ? — Mr.  Madison  was  conspicuous  among 
these  fathers  ;  was  one  of  the  chief  authors  of  the  Constitution  : 
was  ever  its  strongest  champion  ;  had,  for  a  long  time,  opposed 
a  bank  as  unconstitutional ;  had  become  convinced,  by  the 
experience  of  a  deranged  currency,  that  a  bank  was  "  a  neces 
sary  and  proper"  instrument  toward  the  accomplishment  of  the 
powers  conferred  by  the  Constitution  ;  acknowledged  the  con 
stitutionality  to  be  a  question  definitively  settled  by  precedent ; 
upon  these  convictions  had  renounced  his  old  objections,  and 
signed  a  bill  for  establishing  such  an  institution. 

What  did  Mr.  Tyler  mean  by  referring  to  this  example  ? 
Was  it  not  very  pregnant  of  meaning  ?  He  had  already  declared 
that  he  thought  the  Bank  useful ' :  he  had  even  affirmed  that, 
with  our  past  experience,  no  one  could  doubt  "  the  propriety  " 
of  a  well-regulated  bank.  He  had  thus  arrived  at  the  conclu 
sion  that  it  was  "proper"  at  least.  His  only  constitutional 
doubt  rested  on  "  the  necessity."  He  told  the  Henrico  Com 
mittee  that  the  power  to  create  a  bank  not  being  "  express"  in 
the  Constitution,  "  it  could  never  be  constitutional  to  exercise 
that,  power,  save  in  the  event"  etc. — Then,  it  is  clear  he  could 
conceive  a  case  in  which  it  might  be  constitutional. — Add  to 
these  the  expressions  contained  in  the  Inaugural  Address,  and 
it  is  quite  apparent  that  the  mind  of  Mr.  Tyler  was  in  a  state 
of  transition  at  least,  on  this  topic.  Nay,  that  he  had  absolute 
ly  changed,  as  he  told  several.  By  way  of  breaking  this  change 
to  the  public  and  of  preparing  old  acquaintances  against  sur 
prise  at  his  advocating  a  Bank,  he  made  this  reference  to  "the 
Ever-Glorious  Example  "  If  he  did  not  design  it  to  give  coun 
tenance  to  his  change,  why  did  he  allude  to  that  example  at 
all  ?  If  he  could,  by  no  means,  agree  to  sign  a  bank  bill,  why 
did  he  not  then  say  so  ?  The  whole  Whig  press  throughout 
the  Union,  after  that  Inaugural  Address,  proclaimed  him  as 


A    DEFENCE    OF    THE    WHIGS.  375 

"  safe"  upon  the  Bank  question  ;  the  Madisonian,  the  Herald 
— his  peculiar  organs — so  proclaimed  him.  Why  did  he  not 
deny  it,  and  say  he  was  misapprehended  ? 

This  was  the  only  Whig  question  upon  which  any  concern 
was  felt  in  regard  to  Mr.  Tyler's  opinions.  Upon  every  thing 
else  his  most  intimate  and  confidential  friends  vouched  for 
him  to  the  world.  Mr.  Gushing,  who  may  speak  in  this  rela 
tion  for  Mr  Tyler,  said,  in  a  letter  at  the  close  of  the  Extra  Ses 
sion,  that  "  of  thirty-one  Whig  measures"  the  President  disap 
proved  of  but  one.  "  In  respect  to  all  but  one  of  these  meas 
ures" — these  are  his  words— "there  was  perfect  concordat  ac 
tion  on  the  part  of  the  two  Houses  of  Congress  and  the  Presi 
dent.  Concerning  one  of  them,  he  and  they  differed." 

Indeed,  in  regard  to  the  strong,  characteristic  doctrines  and 
ineasmes  of  the  Whig  party,  Mr.  Tyler  may  be  said  to  have 
been  lavish  of  profession. 

As  to  "  the  single  term"  of  the  Presidency,  he  had  written 
a  letter  and  drunk  a  toast  in  which  we  may  find  even  a  savor 
of  self-glorification  at  being  the  first  to  denounce  the  evil  of  a 
second  term,  on  the  score  of  the  danger  of  allowing  the  incum 
bent  of  the  Presidency  to  employ  his  power  and  patronage  to 
secure  an  election. — No  one  was  more  zealous  for  the  distribu 
tion  of  the  proceeds  of  the  public  lands  than  Mr.  Tyler.  No 
one  more  kindly  disposed  to  protect  the  industry  of  the 
country. 

Then,  as  to  the  honest  and  moderate  use  of  the  Executive 
Patronage — who  had  ever  gone  farther  ?  He  even  professed 
to  desire  that  Congress  should  impose  restraints  on  the  power 
of  removal  by  the  President.  Mark  the  wise  humility  and  vir 
tuous  self-denial  breathed,  on  this  point,  in  the  Inaugural. 
"  The  unrestrained  power  exerted  by  a  selfishly  ambitious  man, 
in  order  either  to  perpetuate  his  authority  or  to  hand  it  over 
to  some  favorite  as  his  successor,  may  lead  to  the  employment 
of  all  the  means  within  his  control  to  accomplish  his  object. 
The  right  to  remove  from  office,  while  subjected  to  no  just 
restraint,  is  inevitably  destined  to  produce  a  spirit  of  crouch- 


376  POLITICAL    PAPERS. 

ing  servility  with  the  official  corps  which,  in  order  to  uphold 
the  hand  that  feeds  them,  would  lead  to  direct  and  active  in 
terference  in  the  elections  both  State  and  Federal,  thereby  sub 
jecting  the  course  of  State  Legislation  to  the  dictation  of  the 
Chief  Executive  officer,  and  making  the  will  of  that  officer  ab 
solute  and  supreme.  I  will,  at  a  proper  time,  invoke  the  ac 
tion  of  Congress  upon  this  subject." 

Then  again — 

"  I  will  remove  no  incumbent  from  office  who  has  faithfully 
and  honestly  acquitted  himself  of  the  duties  of  his  office, 
except  in  such  cases  where  such  officer  has  been  guilty  of  ac 
tive  partisanship,  or  by  secret  means,  the  less  manly  and  there 
fore  the  more  objectionable,  has  given  his  official  influence  to 
the  purposes  of  party,  thereby  bringing  the  patronage  of  the 
Government  into  conflict  with  the  freedom  of  elections. — Free 
dom  of  opinion  will  be  tolerated,  the  full  enjoyment  of  the  right 
of  suffrage  will  be  maintained  as  the  birthright  of  every  Amer 
ican  citizen." 

Breathing  such  sentiments  as  these,  so  full  of  amiability 
and  assentation — so  yielding  in  old  opinions,  so  complaisant  in 
all  Whig  doctrine,  so  humble,  so  gracious  and  so  wreathed  in 
smiles,  came  John  Tyler  to  the  accidental  fortune  of  the  Pres 
idency  of  the  United  States.  It  has  been  charged  against  the 
Whigs  that  they  have  not  redeemed  their  promises  to  the  coun 
try.  Why  have  they  not  redeemed  them  ? 

That  remains  to  be  told. 


A   DEFENCE   OF  THE   WHIGS.  377 


PART  II. 

THE  WHIG  PARTY:    ITS  DISAPPOINTMENT,  ITS   RETRIBUTION, 

ITS  HOPES. 

I. 

THE   EXTRA  SESSION. — A   BANK    BILL. — A   SCRUPLE   AND  A  COM 
PROMISE. 

WITH  a  bright  sun  breaking  above  the  gloom  of  Harrison's 
death,  and  gilding  the  hopes  of  all  who  expected  happier  days 
through  the  efficacy  of  a  Whig  Legislature,  Congress  met,  on 
the  last  day  of  May,  1841,  in  Extra  Session. 

Mr.  Tyler  was,  apparently,  in  the  best  mood  to  gratify  the 
anticipations  of  that  great  party  who  had  raised  him  to  what 
he  was,  and  who  were  sincerely  disposed  to  be  his  friends. 

Never  was  there  a  man  brought  into  an  exalted  station 
with  so  little  effort  on  his  part,  or  with  an  easier  fortune  before 
him.  His  course  lay  over  a  summer  sea,  with  favoring  winds 
to  fill  his  sails :  a  prosperous  voyage  was  before  him,  pleasure 
on  its  track  and  fame  at  the  end — had  he  but  the  wit  to  see  it. 

His  message  was  auspicious  :  it  was  full  of  promise. — The 
Currency,  he  proposed  to  regulate  by  a  "  Fiscal  Agent." — 
"  Upon  such  an  agent  depends,  in  an  eminent  degree,  the  es 
tablishment  of  a  currency  of  uniform  value." — So  far,  well. 
This  fiscal  agent  must  not  be  a  Sub-Treasury  :  it  must  not  be 
constituted  of  State  Banks  :  both  of  these  have  met  "  unqualified 
condemnation"  from  the  people.  And  as  to  a  National  Bank 
— even  although  one  had  been  chartered  by  a  vote  of  both 
Houses,  this,  "  a  regard  to  truth"  requires  me  to  say  "  has  also 
been  condemned  by  the  popular  voice."  What  in  such  case 


378  POLITICAL    PAPERS. 

is  it  best  to  do  ?  "  To  you,  then,  who  have  come  more  di 
rectly  from  the  body  of  our  common  constituents,  I  submit  the 
entire  question,  as  best  qualified  to  give  a  full  exposition  of  their 
wishes  and  opinions.  I  shall  be  ready  to  concur  with  you  in 
the  adoption  of  such  system  as  you  may  propose,  reserving  to 
myself  the  ultimate  power  of  rejecting  any  measure  which 
may,  in  my  view  of  it,  conflict  with  the  Constitution,  or  other 
wise  jeopard  the  prosperity  of  the  country — a  power  which  I 
could  not  part  with,  even  if  I  would  :  but  which  I  will  not  be 
lieve  any  act  of  yours  will  call  into  requisition.'1'' 

Mr.  Tyler  when  he  wrote  this,  knew  that  a  Bank  would  be 
one  of  the  most  prominent  topics  in  the  deliberations  of  the 
Whigs  at  that  session  : — as  far  as  he  had  control  over  the  sub 
ject,  intended  it  should  be  so  :  recommended  deliberation  on 
that  point. 

Was  it  designed  that  we  should  gather  from  these  expres 
sions  of  the  Message  that  he  would  agree  to  no  Bank  ? — or 
rather  on  the  other  hand,  a  hope  and  belief  that  such  a  Bank 
would  be  agreed  to,  as  would  not  "  call  into  requisition"  his 
Veto  ?— 

Then  came  a  hint  or  foreshadowing,  of  some  significance 
in  the  interpretation  of  his  wishes.  It  regards  the  Distribu 
tion  of  the  proceeds  of  the  Public  Lands  : — "  Whether  such 
distribution  should  be  made,  directly  to  the  States,  in  the  pro 
ceeds  of  the  sales,  or  in  the  form  of  profits  by  virtue  of  the  op 
erations  of  any  Fiscal  Agency,  having  these  proceeds  as  its  basis, 
should  such  measure  be  contemplated  by  Congress,  would  well  de 
serve  its  consideration" 

What  did  he  propose  should  be  understood  by  this  hypo 
thetic  intimation  ? — Clearly,  I  understand  it  as  no  less  than 
a  suggestion  of  the  possibility — the  probability — of  its  being 
found  most  expedient  to  constitute  a  Bank  in  such  manner  as  to 
incorporate  into  the  capital  "  the  proceeds  of  the  sales" — which 
suggestion,  in  fact,  was  afterward  made  by  the  Secretary  of 
the  Treasury  and  advised  by  him. 

Could  we  infer  that  Mr.  Tyler  would  veto  a  Bank  on  such 


A    DEFENCE    OF   THE    WHIGS.  379 

a  basis  ? — If  not,  then  we  may  conclude  he  deemed  such  a  Bank 
not  unconstitutional.  If  such  not  unconstitutional,  might  not 
one  also  be  constituted  without  "  the  proceeds,"  which  would 
be  held  equally  free  of  objection  ? — It  is  very  evident  he  was 
not,  at  this  time,  against  every  kind  of  a  National  Bank. 

It  would  seem  as  if  the  Presidential  mind  had  already 
gone  through  its  transition,  and  now  rested  upon  "  The  Ever- 
Glorious  Example." 

But  the  President,  in  truth,  had  a  scheme  of  his  own.  He 
was  not  Qu\y  friendly  to  a  Bank,  but  somewhat  covetous  of  the 
renown  of  being  the  author  and  founder  of  one.  We  have 
evidence  that  he  had  several  schemes.  He  had  been  studying 
the  matter.  What  the  Abbe  Sieyes  was  said  to  be  in  the  ar 
ticle  of  Constitutions,  at  the  first  dawning  of  the  French  Rev 
olution,  we  have  reason  to  suspect  Mr.  Tyler  was,  in  the  article 
of  Banks — that  is,  a  projector  in  this  line,  with  pigeon  holes 
full  of  them,  ready  made. — With  more  or  less  certainty,  we 
trace  to  him  conceptions  of  three  different  kinds  :  First,  a 
Bank  after  the  old  fashion,  as  regards  faculties,  with  a  some 
what  whimsical  abstraction  concerning  the  assent  of  States  : 
Second,  a  Bank  stripped  of  power  of  discount  and  limited  to 
exchange  ;  and  Third,  a  Bank  of  indefinite  character  founded 
on  the  Proceeds  of  the  Sales  of  the  Public  Lands. 

But  very  distinctly  do  we  find  him,  first  and  in  preference 
to  all  other  plans,  friendly  to  a  Bank  with  every  Money  power 
that  any  Bank  of  the  United  States  ever  possessed  :  as  po 
tent  as  any  for  the  peculiar  mischief  ascribed  by  politicians  to 
"  The  Monster ;"  and  varying  from  the  old  models  mainly  in 
the  practically  insignificant  feature  of  the  location  of  Branches 
with  the  consent  only  of  the  States  in  which  they  were  placed ; 
— a  feature  which  Mr.  Webster  describes  as  a  "  merely  theo 
retic  difficulty  attended  with  no  practical  disadvantages." 

Very  distinctly  do  we  find  proof  of  this,  as  I  propose  to 
show. 

I  have  hinted  before,  that  the  President  had  two  special 
organs  of  his  opinions.  One  was  the  avowed  official  paper 


380  POLITICAL    PAPERS. 

of  the  Administration, — the  Madisonian.  This  paper  was  con 
ducted  by  an  obsequious  friend  :  it  was  supported,  in  great 
part,  by  government  favor :  the  editorial  matter  was  altogether 
responsive  to  the  President's  suggestions  ;  was  even  inspected 
and  revised  before  publication,  whenever  it  was  thought  ne 
cessary,  by  the  President  or  some  of  his  family. 

The  other  was  a  less  official  but  not  a  less  genuine  organ. 
It  was,  moreover,  personal  to  the  President — having  little  to 
say  for  his  cabinet — much  often  to  say  against  them  :  a  back- 
stair  confidant,  and  therefore  much  more  authentic  on  the 
topic  of  the  influences  that  belonged  to  that  region.  It 
told  secrets  where  there  was  a  purpose  in  having  such  di 
vulged.  It  could  be  repudiated  when  a  hit  failed  or  did  mis 
chief:  acknowledged,  when  the  hit  took  effect.  It  was,  in 
short,  that  kind  of  organ  which  history  shows  us  to  be  both 
common  and  useful  in  the  affairs  of  great  men. — This  organ, 
was  found  in  the  correspondent  of  the  New  York  Herald, — a 
familiar  Scapin  about  the  President's  household.  He  was  the 
collector  of  gossip,  and  haberdasher  of  the  wit  of  the  White 
House  ;  a  regular  frequenter  of  the  garden  and  of  the  levees, 
— where  he  made  notes  for  frivolous  flatteries,  and  described 
the  Court  Paragons, — never  forgetting  the  President  himself, 
— in  mawkish  bombast ;  and  said  ill-natured  things  of  such 
as  fell  not  within  the  category  of  Court  favor.  He  was  pur 
veyor-general  to  the  domestic  vanities.  It  was  his  vocation 
to  pick  up  and  sift  all  the  current  glorifications  of  Mr.  Tyler 
and  his  household,  which  were  dropped  by  the  way  side,  or 
which  were  laid  in  the  path  of  this  assiduous  functionary,  on 
purpose  to  be  picked  up,  by  those  who  had  some  personal  mo 
tive  to  flatter.  The  zeal  and  ability  with  which  he  performed 
these  offices,  made  him  a  favorite,  and,  in  various  by-ways, 
gave  him  access  to  many  State  secrets ;  whereby  he  had  a 
knack  of  predicting  the  President's  opinions  and  meditated 
acts,  with  wonderful  precision,  before  they  were  made  known 
through  any  other  channel.  His  letter  was  always  an  infallible 
index  to  the  coming  message.  If  any  one  is  anxious  to  learn 


A   DEFENCE    OF    THE    WHIGS.  381 

what  was  concocted  in  the  White  House,  during  the  Extra  Ses 
sion,  or  desires  to  know  how  the  President  lived, — what  were 
his  habits,  what  he  thought,  said  and  did,  or  how  he  looked — 
let  him  resort  to  the  correspondence  of  the  Herald. 

These  are  the  two  organs  whose  testimony  I  find  occa 
sion,  in  the  first  place,  to  employ.  I  have  other  witnesses — 
graver  but  not  more  authentic. 

Letter-writer  Scapin,  as  early  as  April  2oth,  which  was  only 
a  fortnight  after  Mr.  Tyler  made  his  Inaugural  Address — not 
cjuite  a  fortnight — and  full  forty  days  before  the  Extra  Session, 
blurts  out — very  indiscreetly,  we  must  say  now — a  piece  of  in 
telligence  regarding  the  Bank.  It  would,  doubtless,  have  cost 
him  his  place  if  the  President  had  then  foreseen  how  very  deep 
was  the  faith  of  the  nation  in  his  known  abhorrence  of  a  Bank, 
and  how  shockingly  ungrateful  the  Democracy  have  become  in 
refusing  to  trust  one  so  distinguished  for  this  aversion. 

I  quote  this  intelligence  in  Scapin's  own  words. 

"  A  letter  has  been  received  from  Mr.  Rives,  in  which  he 
expresses  his  decided  approbation  of  the  tone  and  doctrines 
of  President  Tyler's  address  to  the  people,  and  pledges  him 
self,  unequivocally,  to  the  support  of  the  principles  of  Mr.  Ty 
ler  and  his  administration.  This  is  regarded  as  decisive  of  the 
charter  of  a  National  Bank.  Mr.  Rives 's  vote  renders  such  a  re 
sult  certain.  The  Message  is  to  be  confined  to  a  full  exposi 
tion  of  the  affairs  of  the  nation,  the  situation  of  the  Treasury, 
the  state  of  the  currency,  foreign  relations,  and  such  other  top 
ics  as  are  ordinarily  discussed  in  papers  of  the  kind,  without 
suggesting  any  specific  plan  or  any  measures  for  the  relief  of  the 
people.  All  this  is  to  be  left  to  Congress.  THE  SECRETARY  OF 
THE  TREASURY  HAS  NEARLY  COMPLETED  HIS  PROJECT  FOR 
A  BANK,  but  its  features  have  not  yet  transpired." 

There  is  what  was  known  at  Washington  six  weeks  before 
the  meeting  of  Congress  : — namely,  Mr.  Ewing  was  then  pre 
paring  a  Bank  bill  :  Mr.  Rives's  approbation  of  the  Inaugural 
was  held  decisive  of  his  vote  in  favor  of  the  bill  in  the  Senate. 

At  the  opening  of  the  Extra  Session  the  President's  Mes- 


^*2  POLITICAL    PAPERS. 

sage  was  accompanied  by  the  Report  of  the  Secretary  of  the 
Treasury.  This  paper  earnestly  recommended  the  establish 
ment  of  a  Bank.  It  adds — "  If  such  an  institution  can  be  so 
conceived  in  principle  and  guarded  in  its  details  as  to  remove 
all  scruples  touching  the  question  of  constitutional  power,  and 
thus  avoid  the  objections  which  have  been  urged  against  those 
heretofore  created  by  Congress,  it  will,  in  the  opinion  of  the 
undersigned,  produce  the  happiest  results,  and  confer  lasting 
and  important  benefits  on  the  country." 

The  Bank  was  thus  brought  distinctly  to  the  consideration 
of  Congress  both  by  the  President  and  the  Secretary. 

The  President  was  desirous  that  Congress  should  call  on 
the  Secretary  to  report  a  plan  for  a  bank.  He  expressed-  this 
wish  to  more  than  one  member  immediately  upon  the  opening 
of  the  session  :  in  fact,  invited  the  call.  Mr.  Wise,  his  confi 
dential  friend,  introduced  a  resolution  to  this  end  into  the 
House  on  the  3d  of  June.  Mr.  Clay  did  the  same  thing  in  the 
Senate  on  the  yth. 

On  the  1 2th  of  June  the  Secretary,  Mr.  Evving,  made  his 
report,  and  with  it  a  bill  for  the  incorporation  of  "The  Fiscal 
Bank  of  the  United  States." 

The  bill  is  represented  by  the  Secretary,  as  creating  an  in 
stitution,  "  in  the  general  plan  and  frame"  of  which  "  he  has 
endeavored  to  free  it  from  the  constitutional  objections  which 
have  been  urged  against  those  heretofore  created  by  Congress." 

This  plan,  accordingly,  differs  from  the  former  Banks  in 
two  essential  characteristics, — both  of  which,  it  was  under 
stood,  were  introduced  upon  Mr.  Tyler's  suggestion  and  in  def 
erence  to  his  peculiar  views  of  the  Constitution. 

First,  It  proposes  a  Bank  to  be  incorporated  in  the  District 
of  Columbia. 

Second,  It  was  to  have  the  power  to  establish  Branches  only 
with  the  assent  of  the  States. 

Many  provisions  were  made  to  guard  against  the  abuses 
which  were  known  or  alleged  to  have  crept  into  the  former 
banks. 


A    DEFENCE    OF    THE    WITTGS. 

In  all  other  respects, — in  amount  of  capital,  in  privilege  of 
discount  and  exchange,  of  faculty  to  create  paper  money,  of 
influence  over  the  commerce  and  wealth  of  the  country  ;  in  all 
that  concerns  that  hideous  Money-Power  which  has  frightened 
so  many  anxious  patriots  from  their  propriety  ;  in  all  means  of 
doing  good  and  harm  incident  to  a  Bank  ;  of  "  monopoly  of 
brokerage  ;"  of  making  "  the  rich  richer  and  the  poor  poorer," 
— so  far  as  such  things  ever  have  been  in  past  days  ; — in  brief, 
as  regards  all  and  every  slang  objection  which  the  political 
cant  of  ten  years  has  heaped  up  in  the  magazine  of  anti-Bank 
missiles, — this  Bank  was,  in  every  essential  limb  and  feature, 
the  same  veritable  monster  which  the  oracles  have  said  had 
broken  down  public  liberty  and  undone  the  nation  ; — the  iden 
tical  Dragon  Redivivus  which  our  blessed  St.  George  of  the  Her 
mitage  had  erewhile  made 

"  Au  example  to  all  Dragons." 

There  it  was  restored  ;  with  the  same  bristling  crest,  and  hor 
rid  claws  and  fiery  eye.  Differing  only  from  its  former  guise, 
in  that  its  abode  was  changed  to  the  District  of  Columbia,  and 
that  it  might  not  set  its  seductive  paw  upon  a  State  without 
that  State's  consent.  As  this  Dragon  was  endued  with  some 
of  the  virtues  of  the  siren,  all  rnen  know  what  feeble  defence 
might  be  found  in  the  self-denying  virtues  of  a  sovereign  State. 

Was  this  Mr.  Tyler's  Bank  ? 

It  came  from  his  cabinet  minister.  It  had  been  on  the  an 
vil  for  more  than  six  weeks.  The  report  accompanying  it  recog 
nized  his  hint  touching  the  Public  Lands.  It  was  produced 
upon  a  call  made  at  his  suggestion.  In  its  two  chief  charac 
teristics — Incorporation  in  the  District,  and  Assent  of  States 
— it  was  not  the  scheme  of  any  member  of  the  Cabinet ; — cer 
tainly,  not  of  Mr.  Ewing  who  prepared  the  bill. 

Was  it  Mr.  Tyler's  Bank  ? 

If  it  was,  what  are  we  to  say  of  that  importunate  claim  now 
made  for  him  as  the  very  democrat  of  democrats — uncompro 
mising  strict  constructionist,  ultra-Defender  of  the  Anti-Bank 


384.  POLITICAL    PAPERS. 

Faith — in  this  even  out-Jeffersoning  Jefferson  ; — predestined 
and  heroic  dispenser  of  the  Veto  ;  whom  all  men  knew  from 
the  famous  import  of  his  opinions,  from  the  tenor  of  his  whole 
life  and  conversation,  must  crush  with  his  deadliest  veto  such 
an  enormity  as  a  Bank,  at  its  very  birth  :  was  expected  to  do 
this — was  elected  to  do  it — could  do  no  other  than  this  and 
preserve  his  reputation  for  fidelity  ? — For  the  doing  of  which 
deed,  eternal  and  immeasurable  democratic  gratitude  is  claim 
ed  as  but  a  small  return — small,  in  comparison  with  this  bril 
liant  service,  even  though  it  reach  to  the  glorification  of  him, 
with  another  term  and  instalment  as  Chief  of  the  peculiar  Anti- 
Bank  Democracy — postponing  Van  Buren,  Calhoun,  Cass,  Bu 
chanan  and  Johnson  as  but  milk-sops  and  carpet-knights  in 
the  war  against  the  Monster — What  are  we  to  say  of  this  claim  ? 

We  ask,  then,  again,  somewhat  anxiously — 

Was  this  thing  of  Mr.  Ewing's,  the  President's  Bank  ? 

We  shall  see. 

Tuesday,  i5th  of  June,  I  fin^l  published  in  the  Madisonian, 
the  Secretary's  report  and  bill,  concerning  which,  editorially 
that  paper  remarks,  "  This  plan  is  substantially  the  same,  ex 
cept  in  a  few  particulars,  as  that  shadowed  forth  in  this  paper  last 
week.  We  not  only  *  have  no  doubt  of  its  having  the  approbation 
of  a  majority  of  the  heads  of  Departments,'  as  remarked  by  a 
city  contemporary,  but  we  can  confidently  state  that  it  has,  in  its 
general  features  received  the  approbation  of  the  President,  which  is 
the  more  important  since  his  concurrence  is  absolutely  neces 
sary  to  its  passage." 

Then  again  on  Thursday,  24th  of  June. — 

"  The  Richmond  Enquirer  is  growing  exceedingly  impu 
dent,  and  on  some  points  recently  has  shown  itself  menda 
cious.  In  his  last  paper  the  editor  has  scribbled  a  long  edito 
rial  in  ridicule  of  the  treasury  plan  of  a  Fiscal  Agent,  affecting 
at  the  same  time  to  be  the  organ,  the  adviser  and  the  dictator  of 
the  President,  while  he  charges  a  want  of  veracity  and  a  want  of 
dignity  upon  his  cabinet.  He  even  intimates  that  the  Madison- 
tan  falsifies  the  views  of  the  President,  and  undertakes  to  deny  that 


A    DEFENCE    OF    THE    \V1IIGS.  385 

the  President  approves  of '  the  general  features'  of  the  Treasury 
plan  !  Was  impudence  and  vanity  the  like  of  this  ever  equalled 
in  an  opposition  print  ?" 

About  this  time  Scapin  writes  a  letter  which  throws  some 
light  on  the  matter. 

June  21,  he  says, 

"Mr.  Clay's  proji't  for  a  bank  was  read  in  the  Senate  to 
day.  The  important  point  of  difference  between  the  President 
and  Mr.  Clay  is  in  regard  to  the  compulsory  establishment  of 
branches  in  the  States.  The  opinion  alluded  to  yesterday  that 
Mr.  Clay  will  not  press  his  peculiar  views  to  the  extent  of  jeop 
arding  the  establishment  of  a  Fiscal  Agent  is  gaining  ground,  and 
the  impression  now  is  that  the  prominent  measures  of  the  party 
will  prevail  at  the  Extra  Session." 

These  are  a  few,  selected  from  many  testimonies,  to  the  same 
import,  furnished  by  the  newspaper  depositaries  of  the  Presi 
dent's  confidence. 

The  highest  testimony  of  all  which  we  could  give  upon  this 
point,  the  most  unquestionable  in  the  view  of  the  nation,  would 
be  the  published  letters  of  the  Cabinet  officers  who  resigned. 
These  letters  are  full  and  unequivocal,  and  supply  the  best  ma 
terial  for  history,  as  the  evidence  of  honorable  and  approved 
men.  But  these  newspaper  fragments  are  chiefly  valuable  as 
contemporary  announcements  by  intimates  of  the  President — 
made  while  matters  were  in  progress,  while  there  was  no  motive 
to  misrepresent,  and  before  any  one  had  foreseen  the  disastrous 
conclusion. 

Enemies  have  maligned  the  letters  of  the  retiring  Cabinet 
officers  as  being  ex  parte,  against  the  President.  There  are,  how-* 
ever,  high  testimonies  that  are  not  ex  parte  in  this  sense — but  all 
the  stronger  for  being  ex  parte  on  the  other  side  ; — zealous  party 
friends  of  the  President. 

Mr.  Gushing  is  one  of  these.  In  his  letter  to  his  constitu 
ents,  September  27th,  1841,  written  in  defence  of  the  President, 
he  puts  the  case  somewhat  thus  : — There  were  two  courses 
for  Congress  to  pursue :  either  to  pass  a  bank  bill  of  their 


386  POLITICAL    TAPERS. 

own,  without  consulting  the  President,  or  to  ask  the  President 
for  a  bill  and  pass  that.  He  argues,  in  effect,  that  if  Congress 
had  done  the  first,  and  the  President  had  vetoed  their  bill,  they 
could  not  have  reasonably  complained  ;  or  if  they  had  done  the 
second, — asked  for  a  bill  and  passed  it, — they  would  not  have 
found  occasion  to  complain. 

He  then  adds — 

"Congress  saw  fit  to  adopt  neither  of  these  courses,  that  is, 
neither  passing  a  bill  of  its  own,  nor  accepting  one  from  the  Pres 
ident.  And  hence  its  failure  to  incorporate  a  Fiscal  Bank" 

Mr.  Wise  is  another  of  these  witnesses.  He  also  wrote  a 
letter  after  the  Extra  Session,  November  5th,  and  published  it. 
"Who," — he  asks  in  that  letter — "  according  to  all  party  usages, 
ought  to  have  been  regarded  as  the  true  exponents  and  repre 
sentatives  of  the  Whig  party  ?  Undoubtedly  its  President,  elect 
ed  by  the  party,  and  the  Cabinet  chosen  or  continued  by  him. 
Their  joint  councils  ought  to  have  been  taken  as  the  embodied 
will  of  those  they  represented.  What  did  they  do  ?  It  is  well 
understood  that  they  had  come  to  a  compromise  upon  the  vexed 
question  of  a  Fiscal  Agent.  The  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  Mr. 
Ewing  himself,  proposed  a  plan  which  he  recommended  to  Con 
gress  as  one  which  would  conduct  our  finances  and  commerce, 
equalize  exchanges,  regulate  currency  and  avoid  all  constitu 
tional  difficulties.  This  was  the  very  desideratum,  if  it  was 
what  he  described  it  to  be,  and  this  was  emphatically  by  a  Whig 
administration  recommendation  from  the  proper  department, 
said  to  be  acquiesced  in  by  the  President,  and  it  was  called  for  by 
both  Houses  of  Congress.  It  was  justly  regarded  as  the  Whig 
measure  of  the  first  moment,  and  would,  as  such,  have  been 
met  and  treated,  doubtless,  by  the  Opposition  or  Van  Buren 
party." 

Upon  this  same  point,  highest  of  all,  we  have  the  testimony 
of  Mr.  Webster.  It  was  given  to  the  world  in  that  unhappy 
Faneuil  Hall  speech  of -his. 

"  At  the  Special  Session  Mr.  Ewing  proposed  a  plan  for  a 
National  Bank.  //  received  the  approbation  of  every  member  of 


A  DEFEXCE  OF  THE  WHIGS.  387 

the  Cabinet,  as  the  only  plan  which  would  be  likely  to  succeed,  con 
sidering  the  opinions  of  the  individual  whom  we  had  all  agreed  to 
put  in  the  second  place  in  the  Government.  It  was  the  part  of  wis 
dom  not  to  see  how  much  of  a  case  we  could  make  out  against 
the  President,  but  how  we  could  get  on  as  wdl  as  we  might,  with 
the  President.  Mr.  Ewing's  bill  did  not  allow  the  establish 
ment  of  branches  without  the  consent  of  the  States.  I  have 
no  idea  myself  that  there  is  a  constitutional  necessity  for  this 
restriction.  I  never  had  any  such  idea,  but  I  could  see  no 
great  difference  that  it  could  make.  It  was  merely  a  theoret 
ic  difficulty,  attended  with  no  practical  disadvantages  that  I 
could  see." 

Now,  here  is  a  brief  of  evidence  from  Scapin,  of  the  Kitch 
en,  up  to  Daniel  Webster, — all  strong  to  the  same  point, — 
the  paternity,  namely,  of  what  is  generally  known  as  Ewing's 
bill,  in  the  President. 

What  is  the  corollary  from  this  ?  That  Mr.  Tyler  was,  as 
late  as  the  i2th  of  June,  1841,  the  friend  and  advocate  of  a 
Bank  of  the  United  States. 

No  one  imagined,  at  that  time,  that  he  would  ever  deny 
this.  It  was  no  secret.  He  communicated  his  wish  to  have 
a  Bank  to  many  members.  He  was  thought  to  be  particularly 
tenacious  about  his  Bank.  The  Whig  party  so  understood 
him  and  so  relied  upon  him ;  shaped  their  course  with  refer 
ence  to  this  reliance. 

Mr.  Ewing's  report  and  bill  were  referred  in  the  Senate  to 
the  Select  Committee  on  the  Fiscal  Agent,  of  which  Mr.  Clay 
was  Chairman.  That  Committee  reported  on  the  2ist  of  June. 

In  all  essential  features  the  bill  reported  to  the  Senate  by 
Mr.  Clay  is  the  same  as  that  of  the  President,  with  one  excep 
tion.  That  exception  regards  the  establishment  of  Branches. 

The  Bank,  in -this  plan,  as  in  the  other,  was  to  be  situated 
in  the  District  of  Columbia :  it  was  to  have  the  same  capital 
of  Thirty  Millions — with  a  provision  for  future  increase,  if 
Congress  should  think  it  advisable,  to  Fifty  Millions  ! 

It  provides   for  a  Government  subscription  of  Ten  Mil- 


388  POLITICAL    PAPERS. 

lions  instead  of  the  President's  Six ;  and  it  dispensed  with  the 
Fourth  Instalment  of  the  Surplus  Revenue,  amounting  to  up 
ward  of  Nine  Millions  which  the  President's  bill  proposed  to 
make  part  of  the  Capital : 

It  allowed  dividends  as  high  as  Seven  per  cent. :  the  other 
restricted  them  to  Six  : 

It  gave  nine  paid  Directors,  and  required  a  majority  to 
transact  business :  the  Executive  scheme  proposed  seven  paid 
directors  and  three  a  quorum  for  business. — It  was  somewhat 
more  stringent  in  its  regulations  than  the  Bill  of  the  Execu 
tive  :  among  other  particulars  in  these  : — 

It  forbade  the  appointment  of  any  member  of  Congress,  or 
of  a  State  Legislature,  or  officer,  or  Contractor  of  the  Federal 
or  State  Governments,  as  a  Director  in  the  Bank  or  its 
Branches : 

It  forbade  all  discounting  within  the  District  of  Columbia, 
or  loans,  except  to  the  Government  : 

It  gave  additional  powers  to  facilitate  free  examination  of 
the  Bank  by  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  : 

It  added  restrictions  to  the  use,  and  guards  against  the 
abuse,  of  Proxies  : 

It  forbade  the  officers  from  borrowing  money  or  obtaining 
discounts  from  the  Bank,  or  contracting  debts  with  it : 

In  these  and  sundry  other  particulars,  the  Senate  Bill  was 
more  guarded  and  restrained  than  the  Executive  Bill. 

These  diversities  between  the  two  schemes  mainly  respect 
the  efficiency  of  the  proposed  institution :  they  did  not  touch 
any  debatable  question  of  Constitutional  power. 

Such  a  question  of  Constitutional  power,  and  the  only  one, 
was  presented  in  the  clause  relating  to  the  establishment  of 
branches.  In  all  other  points  the  bills  are  the  same  in  princi 
ple,  and,  with  very  little  variation,  coincident  in  detail — almost 
identical  in  phraseology. 

On  this  point  of  establishment  of  Branches — the  i6th  Fun 
damental  rule  in  each  Bill — the  Senate  plan  differed  from  that 
of  the  Executive,  to  the  following  extent: 


A   DEFENCE    OF   THE    WHIGS.  389 

The  Executive  Bill  authorized  the  corporation  to  establish 
a  Branch,  for  Discount  and  Deposit,  in  any  State  whose  Legis 
lature  should  give  its  assent  to  such  an  act ;  such  Branch  being 
once  established,  not  to  be  withdrawn  without  the  assent  of 
Congress  : — or,  instead  of  establishing  such  office,  the  directors 
were  authorized,  from  time  to  time,  to  employ  any  individual 
agent,  or  bank, — with  the  approbation  of  the  Secretary  of  the 
Treasury, — at  any  place,  to  transact  the  business  of  the  Bank, 
other  than  for  the  purposes  of  discount. 

The  Senate  Bill,  first,  made  it  obligatory  upon  the  Corpor 
ation  to  establish  an  office  of  Discount  and  Deposit  in  any  State 
in  which  two  thousand  shares  should  have  been  subscribed, 
whenever,  upon  the  application  of  the  Legislature  of  such  State, 
Congress  should  require  the  same  :  second,  the  directors  were 
authorized  to  establish  such  offices  in  any  State  or  Territory, 
whenever  they  should  think  it  expedient,  without  the  assent  of 
the  legislature :  third,  or,  instead  of  establishing  such  offices 
to  employ  an  agent  or  bank — to  be  approved  by  the  Secreta 
ry  of  the  Treasury — at  any  place — to  transact  the  business  of 
the  Bank,  other  than  for  the  purposes  of  discount. — This  lat 
ter  clause  being  to  the  same  effect  as  that  in  the  Executive  Bill. 

There  is  a  view  of  the  two  provisions.  It  will  be  seen  how 
very  narrow  was  the  difference  between  Mr.  Tyler's  proposi 
tion  and  Mr.  Clay's  :  a  difference,  so  far  as  Constitutional  power 
was  concerned,  that  rested  upon  the  naked  alternative,  of— 

Branches  to  be  established  originally  with  the  assent  of 
the  States,  and  that  assent,  once  given,  to  be  irrevocable  ; — or, 
Branches  to  be  established  when  and  where  found  convenient, 
without  that  original  assent. 

The  President  maintained,  in  justification  of  the  principle 
inserted  in  his  bill,  that,  although  he  could  find  power  in  the 
Constitution  to  establish  a  Bank,  he  could  find  none  to  establish 
a  Branch :  That,  to  get  this  absent  power,  it  was  necessary 
that  Congress  should  apply  to  each  State  for  a  grant  of  it. — 
This  argument,  in  deference  to  the  President,  we  must  call 
"  Strict  Construction !" 


390  POLITICAL    PAPERS. 

Mr.  Clay,  on  the  other  hand,  held,  that  if  the  Constitution 
did  not  give  the  power  to  establish  a  Branch,  no  assent  of  a 
State  could  give  it ;  and,  therefore,  that  it  was  unconstitutional 
to  attempt  to  derive  power  from  the  assent  of  a  State. — This 
argument  we  may  presume  was  deemed  "Broad  Construc 
tion!" 

Mr.  Tyler,  the  Strict  Constructionist,  thought  an  unconsti 
tutional  Branch  might  be  made  Constitutional  by  the  assent  of 
a  State : 

Mr.  Clay,  the  Latitudinarian,  could  fine  no  power  in  the 
Constitution  to  ask  assent  as  the  foundation  of  a  right. 

Strange  livery,  this  poor  serving  man,  Construction,  has  got 
into ! — But  there  is  the  whole  Question. — Even  upon  such  a 
rock  as  this  has  our  skilful  Palinurus  steered  his  cock-boat. 

Upon  this  logic,  a  division  of  opinion  arose  in  Congress : 
not  as  to  which  of  these  positions  was  the  sound  one. — I  believe 
there  was  not  a  man  in  either  House  who  honestly  and  sincere 
ly  held  with  the  President. — Not  one.  But  the  question  which 
now  divided  Congress  was — Cannot  the  President  be  gratified 
as  to  this  crotchet  of  his  regarding  the  Assent  of  the  States  ? 
Cannot  Congress,  if  it  finds  motive  to  do  so,  as  a  matter  of  ex 
pediency  merely,  waive  and  forego  Us  right  to  establish  a  branch, 
and  ordain  that  that  right  shall  not  be  exercised  except  in  such 
case  as  when  a  State  may  express  a  wish  for  a  Branch  ? 

Upon  this  point,  there  was  a  very  general,  perhaps  unan 
imous,  concurrence  of  the  Whig  party  in  the  affirmative.  Is 
it  expedient  to  establish  such  a  precedent? — May  it  not  be 
used,  hereafter,  to  the  prejudice  of  good  Legislation  ?  On  this 
point  there  was  less  unanimity.  Some  members  were  strongly 
opposed.  Then  it  was  suggested  that  the  power  might  be 
waived,  with  a  protestation.  I  know  not  how  many  sugges 
tions  were  made.  There  was  certainly  great  solicitude  to 
comply  with  the  President's  wish,  if  possible. 

The  difficulty  was,  at  last,  thought  to  be  settled  by  a  Com 
promise  ; — a  Compromise  to  which  it  was  reported  the  Presi 
dent  had  agreed.  Whether  he  had  or  not,  I  am  unable  to  say. 


A    DEFENCE    OF    THE    WHIGS.  391 

It  was  believed  so,  at  least ;  and  more  especially,  as  The  Mad- 
isonian  broached  the  idea  and  advocated  a  settlement,  much 
in  the  terms  of  this  now  brought  forward. 

This  Compromise  was  sufficiently  ridiculous.  There  was 
great  repugnance  to  it  through  the  Whig  ranks.  But  it  was 
finally  agreed  to,  because  the  majority  thought  the  President 
wished  it.  Nothing  but  that  could  have  got  it  a  dozen  votes. 

The  whole  controversy  rested  on  a  foundation  so  exceed 
ingly  frivolous—  this  crotchet  of  the  Assent  of  States — that  no 
new  frivolity  in  the  progress  of  it  excited  surprise. 

The  Compromise  was  this — 

The  Directors  to  have  power  to  establish  a  branch  with 
the  assent  of  the  State,  and,  when  established,  not  to  be  with 
drawn  without  the  consent  of  Congress : — Provided,  first,  That 
the  power  to  establish  a  Branch  shall  be  unrestrained,  in  re 
spect  to  any  State  which  shall  not,  at  the  first  Session  of  its 
Legislature,  after  the  passage  of  the  Charter,  express  its  Dis 
sent  ;  in  defect  of  which,  Assent  shall  be  presumed :  And  Pro 
vided,  second,  That  whenever  Congress  shall  deem  it "  ne 
cessary  and  proper  "  to  the  execution  of  powers  granted  by  the 
Constitution,  to  establish  a  Branch  in  any  State, — then  Con 
gress  may  require  the  Directors  to  establish  such  Branch. 

This  Compromise  being  thus  arranged  in  conformity,  as  it 
was  supposed,  with  the  President's  views,  it  was  incorporated 
in  the  Bill,  and  the  Whigs  then  hastened  to  pass  it, — hoping 
that  they  had  thereby  allayed  the  prickings  of  Mr.  Tyler's  sen 
sitive  and  too  prurient  conscience. 

The  Bill  was  not  agreed  to  without  a  smile.  In  fact,  the 
whole  affair  had  a  dash  of  the  comic  in  it. 

The  Whig  party  having  got  through  this  their  first  trial 
— happily  as  they  thought — congratulated  themselves  upon 
having  so  clear-sighted  and  practical  an  Abstractionist  at  the 
head  of  affairs. 


392  POLITICAL    PAPERS. 

II. 

TYLERISM. 

I  will  do  Mr.  Tyler  the  justice  to  say  that  I  have  no  rea 
son  to  suppose  he  ever  gave  any  distinct  promise  to  accept  th 
Compromise,  although  such  a  belief  was  prevalent.  His  de 
meanor,  at  this  time,  became  very  diplomatic.  Speculations 
were  afloat, — would  he  veto  the  bill,  or  would  he  sign  it  ? 
The  Herald  positively  announced  a  Veto.  The  Madisonian, 
of  June  29th,  had  proposed  and  advocated  a  Compromise,  as 
we  have  said,  of  very  much  the  same  import  with  that  which 
was  adopted  : — Now  that  the  bill  was  passed,  it  assumed  an 
other  tone  and  rather  ominously  hinted  at  a  Veto.  The  great 
est  anxiety  prevailed  among  the  Whigs  to  avoid  this  catas 
trophe.  The  President  was  well  aware  of  this  anxiety,  but 
gave  no  intimations  of  what  he  would  do.  From  day  to  day 
he  encouraged  hopes  quite  as  vividly  as  he  excited  fears.  He 
either  was  or  seemed  to  be  greatly  agitated  by  the  question. 
The  Bill  was  passed  on  the  6th  of  August ;  he  kept  it  until 
the  1 6th.  During  this  interval  his  house  was  filled  with  visi 
tors  from  the  ranks  of  the  opposition  :  they  took  possession  of 
his  ear ;  became  his  intimate  advisers. — What  advice  they  gave 
we  may  conjecture.  He  affected  to  complain  that  the  Whigs 
kept  aloof  from  him  ;  and  when,  learning  this,  they  hastened 
to  disabuse  his  mind  of  that  impression  and  sought  commun 
ion  with  him,  they  were  not  only  coldly  received,  but  reproved 
by  his  intimates  for  their  importunity. 

Thinking  it  their  duty  to  do  every  thing  in  their  power  to 
avert  the  threatened  veto,  they  waited  upon  him  in  delegations, 
to  apprise  him  of  the  feeling  which  was  likely  to  arise  in  the 
country  upon  this  act.  One  delegation  in  particular,  of  great 
respectability — the  Whigs  representing  Ohio, — called  upon  him 
on  Friday  evening  the  i3th  of  August.  They  told  him  frankly 
what  they  feared.  Assured  him  of  the  earnest  desire  of  the 
party  to  preserve  harmony  and  good  will  toward  the  President : 
represented  to  him  the  deep  concern  of  the  nation  in  the  Bank 


A   DEFENCE    OF   THE    WJIIGS.  393 

question.  He  protested  his  own  intense  feeling  upon  the  sub 
ject  :  spoke  apparently  with  frankness  of  the  difficulties  he  felt 
in  regard  to  certain  points  in  the  com  promise  section  :  suggest 
ed  an  amendment  which  would  render  this  section  acceptable 
to  him :  declared  his  entire  freedom  from  all  prejudice  or  extrinsic 
influence  in  regard  to  the  measure  :  wept , — promised  to  pray 
for  guidance — and  then  asked,  by  way  of  remonstrance,  "Why 
did  you  not  send  me  Ewing's  bill  ?" 

"Would you  sign  that  bill?" — inquired  one  of  the  delega 
tion. 

"  I  would" — was  the  reply. 

Such  was  the  interview  as  described  by  those  who  witness 
ed  it.  The  Ohio  members  left  his  apartment  fully  possessed 
with  the  opinion  that  the  President  was  sincerely  desirous  to 
have  a  Bank  such  as  his  cabinet  minister  had  reported.  Al 
though  they  had  reason  to  expect  a  veto  of  t{ie  pending  bill, 
they  believed  that  all  difficulty  would  be  removed  by  adopt 
ing  the  President's  plan  as  it  came  from  the  Secretary.  This 
opinion  they  infused  into  the  Whigs  of  Congress  ;  and  the  hopes 
of  a  favorable  settlement  began  to  brighten. 

Three  days  after  this  interview — Monday,  August  i6th — 
Mr.  Tyler  sent  the  bill  back  to  the  Senate  with  his  Veto  Mes 
sage. 

So  far  as  this  act  signified  his  dissent  from  the  Senate  bill, 
it  surprised  nobody.  The  recent  reports,  especially  that  from 
the  Ohio  delegation,  had  prepared  Congress  to  expect  it.  But 
the  substance  of  the  Message,  and  the  grounds  upon  which  it 
placed  the  Veto,  greatly  surprised  everybody — excepting  those 
only  who  were  in  the  secret. 

The  Message  presents  four  objections  to  the  Bill. 

First,  That  it  is  an  attempt  to  create  a  Bank  to  operate /<?r 
se  over  the  Union, — and  therefore  unconstitutional. 

Second,  That  it  is  a  Bank  of  Discount, — and  therefore  un 
constitutional.* 

*"  I  have  not  been  able  to  satisfy  myself  that  the  establishment 
by  this  government  of  a  Bank  of  Discount,  in  the  ordinary  acceptation 


39-i  POLITICAL    PAPERS. 

Third,  That  it  was  not  a  Bank  exclusively  confined  to  the 
power  of  dealing  in  Exchanges,  which  would  be  constitutional 
and  eminently  useful,  if  conducted  on  the  plan  of  the  Exchange 
operations  of  the  old  Bank.* 

Fourth,  That  the  Assent  of  States  toward  establishing 
Branches  was  not  sufficiently  secured. 

The  first  three  of  these  objections  apply  as  forcibly  to  the 
President's  own  bill  as  to  that  from  the  Senate. 

If  the  latter  is  a  bill  to  operate  per  se,  so  was  the  former, — 
that  is,  if  there  be  any  intelligible  meaning  in  these  words, 
which  I  by  no  means  assert,  for  I  have  .never  seen  any  man 
who  could  define  exactly  what  the  President  meant  by  a  Bank 

of  that  term,  was  a  necessary  means,  or  one  demanded  by  propriety,  to 
execute  those  powers. — What  can  the  local  discounts  of  the  Bank 
have  to  do  with  the  collecting,  safe-keeping  and  disbursing  of  the 
Revenue  ?  " —  Veto  Message. 

*  "  For  several  years  after  the  establishment  of  that  institution  (the 
old  Bank)  it  dealt  almost  exclusively  in  local  discounts  ;  and,  during 
that  period,  the  country  was,  for  the  most  part,  disappointed  in  the 
consequences  anticipated  from  its  incorporation." — "  It  had,  up  to  that 
period,  dealt  to  but  a  very  small  extent  in  Exclianges  either  foreign 
or  domestic,  and  as  late  as  1823  its  operations  in  that  line  amounted  to 
a  little  more  than  seven  millions  per  annum.  A  very  rapid  augmen 
tation  soon  after  occurred,  and  in  1833  its  dealings  in  the  Exchanges 
amounted  to  upward  of  one  -hundred  millions,  including  the  sales  of 
its  own  draughts.  The  currency  of  the  country  became  sound,  and 
the  negotiations  in  the  Exchanges  were  carried  on  at  the  lowest  pos 
sible  rates.  The  circulation  was  increased  to  more  than  $22,000,000, 
and  the  notes  of  the  Bank  were  regarded  as  equal  to  specie  all  over 
the  country:  thus  showing,  almost  conclusively,  that  it  was  the  ca 
pacity  to  deal  in  Exchanges  and  not  in  local  discounts  which  furnished 
these  facilities  and  advantages.  It  may  be  remarked,  too,  that  not 
withstanding  the  immense  transactions  of  the  Bank  in  the  purchase 
of  Exchange,  the  losses  sustained  were  merely  nominal,  while  in  the 
line  of  discounts  the  suspended  debt  was  enormous  and  proved  most 
disastrous  to  the  Bank  and  the  country.  Its  power  of  Local  Discount, 
in  fact,  proved  to  be  a  fruitful  source  of  favoritism  and  corruption, 
alike  destructive  of  the  public  morals  and  the  general  weal." — Veto 


A    DEFENCE    OF   THE    WIIIGS.  395 

to  operate  per  se. — But  whatever  hidden  significance  there 
may  be  in  this  mystical  phrase,  we  may  assume  that  it  applies 
as  much  to  one  scheme  as  to  the  other. 

The  President's  bank  was  more  distinctly  a  Bank  of  Local 
discount  than  the  Senate  Bank.  For  the  latter  absolutely 
forbade  discounting  in  the  District,  which  the  other  allowed. 
The  discount  power  was  as  large  in  the  President's  plan  as  in 
the  old  Bank. 

Then  as  to  dealing  in  Exchange,  Mr.  Tyler's  plan  encour 
aged  it  no  more  than  the  other,  but  left  this  faculty  pretty 
much  where  it  was  in  the  former  Charter. 

The  Fourth  objection  is  peculiar  to  the  Senate  Bill.  Yet 
here  the  difference  hangs  by  a  cobweb. 

Mr.  Tyler  had  agreed,  by  the  terms  of  his  own  bill,  that  a 
State  which  once  consented  to  a  branch,  should  not  have  pow 
er  to  revoke  that  consent.  He  objects  to  the  compromise  be 
cause  it  raises  an  implied  assent  when  a  State  does  not  dissent 
at  the  first  meeting  of  its  Legislature  after  the  passage  of  the 
Charter  ;  upon  which,  he  argues  that  this  inference  of  assent 
might  in  some  cases  be  contrary  to  the  known  fact  or  avowed 
wish  of  the  State. — Well  ;  it  is  standing  on  a  small  scruple 
when  we  place  the  constitutional  power  of  Congress  on  such 
an  abstraction  as  discriminates  between  a  power  to  establish  a 
Branch  in  a  State  without  asking  consent,  and  a  power  to  con 
tinue  a  Branch  after  the  State  desires  its  removal. 

But  I  have  no  wish  to  argue  points  or  chop  logic  with  a 
President  of  the  United  States  ; — and  less  with  Mr.  Tyler  than 
with  any  President  that  ever  lived. 

I  recount  these  proceedings  only  to  show  how  completely 
this  Message  bewildered  the  Whig  party.  It  came  like  a 
snow-storm  in  summer.  After  all  that  the  President  had  said 
to  the  Ohio  members,  and  to  sundry  others  ;  after  the  open 
ing  Message ;  after  the  Madisonian  and  the  Herald  ;  after 
the  report  and  commendation  of  Ewing's  bill ; — after  all  thes^, 
it  seems  he  could  not  go  for  discounts  ! 

The  Whig  members,  upon  hearing  the  result  of  the  Ohio 


396  POLITICAL    PAPERS. 

delegation  conference,  had  taken  heart  and  partly  resolved,  in 
order  to  conciliate  and  to  avoid  all  future  difference,  to  report 
the  Treasury  bill  and  pass  it.  In  perfect  good  faith  and  hon 
esty  of  purpose  this  idea  was  entertained  by  the  great  major 
ity  of  the  Whigs.  But  here  was  the  Message  giving  a  flat  re 
pulse  to  any  hope  from  that  proceeding. 

In  the  midst  of  these  perplexities  and  doubts  a  most 
strange  fact  comes  to  light,  and  with  it  another  ray  of  hope. 

A  member  of  the  Ohio  delegation  who  had  visited  the 
President  on  Friday,  the  i3th,  had  occasion  to  visit  him  again 
on  Monday,  the  i6th — just  after  the  Veto  Message  had  been 
despatched  to  the  Capitol. 

The  President  said  to  him,  "  I  am  glad  to  meet  you  again.  I 
wanted  to  see  one  of  your  delegation.  When,  on  Friday  even 
ing,  I  told  you  I  would  sign  Ewing's  bill,  if  it  were  sent  to 
me,  I  HAD  NOT  READ  IT.  I  wish  to  recall  what  I  said.  I 
could  not  sign  that.  If  you  will  examine  the  Message  I  have 
sent  to-day,  you  will  find  shadowed  forth  a  much  better  bank 
there,  one  THAT  HAS  BEEN  LONG  ENDEARED  TO  ME." 

I  do  not  pretend  to  give  the  very  words,  except  in  the  two 
remarkable  declarations  printed  in  capitals  : — I  give  the  sub 
stance  and  words  both  as  reported,  in  no  unfriendly  spirit  to 
the  President,  immediately  after  the  event, — reported  in  a 
friendly  spirit  rather,  that  farther  concession  for  the  sake  of 
harmony  might  be  made. 

The  fact  that  Mr.  Tyler  had  not  read  Mr.  Ewing's  bill,  was 
a  new  thunder-stroke  in  the  atmosphere  of  the  Capitol. 

That  he  did  not  know  that  that  bill  embraced  a  power  of 
Local  Discount ! — This,  after  all  that  had  happened  ! — It  had 
been  in  preparation  ever  since  the  2oth  of  April.  It  had  been 
called  for  at  the  request  of  the  President.  It  had  been  report 
ed  and  officially  printed  in  the  Documents  of  Congress  and  in 
every  newspaper  over  the  land,  for  upward  of  two  months. 
The  subject  had  been  in  debate  nearly  all  that  time.  It  had 
been  the  topic  of  deliberation,  with  a  view  to  compromise,  for 
the  last  month.  The  compromise  principle  was  submitted  as 


A    DEFENCE    OF    THE    WHIGS.  397 

a  conciliatory  proposition  between  this  bill  and  that  of  the 
Senate.  "This  bill  was  the  President's  bill"— said  Mr. 
Gushing. — "  The  President  and  his  Cabinet  had  adopted  it  as 
a  compromise  of  the  vexed  question," — said  Mr.  Wise. — "  It 
received  the  approbation  of  every  member  of  the  Cabinet," 
— said  Mr.  Webster. — And  yet  Mr.  Tyler,  the  observed  of  all 
observers,  whose  interest  in  this  bill  and  the  questions  it  pre 
sented  was  deeper  than  that  of  any  man  in  America — he  had 
not  read  it ! 

The  Whigs,  of  course,  heard  this  with  a  lively  estimate 
both  of  the  sincerity  and  ability  of  him  whom  they  had  set  up 
to  rule  over  this  nation,  and  again  congratulated  themselves 
upon  the  fellowship  of  so  wise  and  vigilant  a  statesman. 

A  hope  yet  remained.  He  had  "  shadowed  out"  a  plan 
in  his  Message  ;  a  plan  "  long  endeared  to  him." — What  was 
this  ? — The  Message  was  examined,  and  it  occurred  at  once 
to  every  one,  upon  reading  his  commendation  of  the  Exchange 
operations  of  the  Old  Bank,  that  the  plan  shadowed  forth  in 
that  document — the  "  long-endeared"  plan — was  a  bank  to  be 
constructed  with  reference  to  such  dealing  in  Exchanges  as 
were  described  to  be  so  beneficial  to  the  country  in  the  Old 
Bank,  and  which  should  be  disabled  from  dealing  in  local  dis 
counts. 

To  make  sure  of  the  President's  concurrence  in  this  mat 
ter,  two  gentlemen  of  the  highest  standing  in  Congress, — 
Mr.  Berrien  of  the  Senate  and  Mr.  Sergeant  of  the  House, 
— were  deputed  by  the  Whigs  to  ascertain  from  him  pre 
cisely  what  kind  of  a  bill  he  would  feel  himself  authorized  to 
approve. 

They  executed  their  commission  with  great  fidelity :  had 
an  interview  with  the  President ;  learned  from  him  that  he 
was  in  favor  of  a  fiscal  agent  divested  of  the  discounting 
power  and  limited  to  dealing  in  bills  of  Exchange  other  than 
those  drawn  by  a  citizen  of  one  State  upon  another  citizen  of 
the  same  State.  A  bill  was  prepared  in  conformity  with  these 
suggestions.  It  was  submitted  to  Mr.  Webster  and  by  him  to 


398  POLITICAL    PAPERS. 

the  President :  was  approved,  sent  to  the  House  of  Represent 
atives  :  reported  there  and  passed.* 

When  this  measure  was  first  proposed,  and  before  it  was 
passed  in  the  House,  the  President  expressed  great  satisfac- 

*  This  whole  incident  is  so  singular  that  it  is  best  to  give  the  ac 
count  of  it  furnished  by  the  actors  themselves. 

Mr.  Berrien  and  Mr.  Sergeant  being  called  upon  to  make  a  state 
ment  on  this  subject,  the  following  papers  were  furnished.  They 
were  published  in  the  National  Intelligencer  on  the  7th  June,  1842. 

"  When  the  bill  for  the  establishment  of  a  fiscal  agent,  which 
had  been  reported  by  Mr.  Clay,  had  been  returned  with  the  Veto  of 
the  President,  I  was  requested  to  unite  with  Mr.  Sergeant  in  pre 
paring  and  reporting  a  bill  to  establish  a  Bank  on  the  basis  of  the 
projet  submitted  to  the  Senate  by  Mr.  Ewing,  or  such  other  bill  as  we 
believed  could  become  a  law.  The  alternative  authority  was  given 
expressly  with  a  view  to  enable  us  to  ascertain,  with  more  precision 
than  was  found  in  the  Veto  Message,  in  what  particular  form  the 
President  would  feel  authorized  to  approve  such  a  bill ;  and  the 
whole  power  was  conferred  and  received  in  a  spirit  of  conciliation  to 
the  Executive,  and  from  an  earnest  desire  on  the  part  of  the  majority 
in  Congress  to  co-operate  with  the  President  in  the  adoption  of  some 
fiscal  agent  which  should  meet  the  wishes  and  the  wants  of  the 
country.  Mr.  Sergeant  and  I  waited  on  the  President,  and,  at  my  re 
quest,  Mr.  W.  C.  Dawson  accompanied  us. 

"  It  is  not  proposed  to  detail  the  particulars  of  the  conversation  at 
this  interview,  unless  it  shall  be  desired  by  some  one  who  has  the 
authority  of  the  President  for  asking  it.  It  suffices  to  state  the 
result.  The  President,  referring  to  his  Veto  Message,  expressed  him 
self  in  favor  of  a  fiscal  agent  divested  of  the  discounting  power,  and 
limited  to  dealing  in  bills  of  Exchange  other  than  those  drawn  by 
one  citizen  of  a  State  upon  another  citizen  of  the  same  State.  He  de 
clared  his  determination  to  confer  with  his  cabinet  on  the  question 
whether  the  assent  of  the  States  ought  to  be  required  in  the  estab 
lishment  of  the  agencies  to  be  employed  by  the  Corporation,  and  also 
as  to  the  propriety  of  holding  with  us  that  informal  communication 
promising  to  inform  us  of  the  result  by  a  note  to  be  sent  in  the  course 
of  the  day.  In  the  course  of  the  same  day  Mr.  Webster  came  to  the 
Capitol,  with  instructions,  as  he  stated,  to  communicate  to  me  verbal 
ly  the  determination  of  the  President,  he  (the  President)  believing 
that  that  mode  of  communication  would  be  equally  acceptable  with 
the  written  one  that  had  boon  promised.  He  proceeded  to  state  thnt 


A   DEFENCE    OF   THE    WIIIGS.  O(J(J 

tion  at  so  happy  an  arrangement,  and  is  said  to  have  declared 
to  a  member  of  the  House,  in  the  most  earnest  and  emphatic 
manner,  that  the  passage  of  the  bill, — which,  he  added,  ought 
to  be  accomplished  without  delay — would  lay  him  under  the 
greatest  obligations. 

the  President  would  approve  a  bill  for  the  establishment  of  a  fiscal 
agency  limited  to  dealing  in  foreign  bills  of  Exchange.  And  to  the 
question  whether  he  would  require  that  the  assent  of  the  States 
should  be  obtained  for  the  establishment  of  the  agencies  to  be  em 
ployed  by  the  Corporation,  he  answered  that  he  would  not.  He  sug 
gested  the  expediency  of  changing  the  name  of  the  Corporation, 
which  was  acquiesced  in  :  and  by  an  arrangement  then  made  with 
Mr.  Webster,  I  received  Mr.  Ewing  and  Mr.  Sergeant  at  my  lodgings 
at  five  o'clock  of  the  same  afternoon.  The  details  of  the  bill,  sub 
sequently  introduced  by  Mr.  Sergeant,  were  then  and  there  agreed 
upon,  in  conformity  with  the  views  of  the  President,  as  communica 
ted  to  me  by  Mr.  Webster  and  repeated  by  Mr  Ewing  :  and  in  reply 
to  the  question  also  proposed  to  Mr.  Ewing,  whether  the  President 
would  require  the  assent  of  the  States  to  the  establishment  of  the 
agencies,  he,  Mr.  Ewing,  likewise  replied  in  the  negative.  The 
sketch  thus  arranged  was  committed  to  Mr.  Sergeant,  who  prepared 
from  it  the  bill  which  he  subsequently  introduced  in  the  House  of 
Representatives,  a  copy  of  which  was,  as  I  understood  from  Mr. 
Sergeant,  before  introducing  it,  sent  to  Mr.  Webster  to  be  by  him 
submitted  to  the  President.  This  was  the  same  bill  which  subse 
quently  passed  both  Houses  of  Congress,  and  which  was  returned  by 
the  President  with  his  second  Veto. 

"  J.  MACPHERSON  BERRIEN." 

Memorandum  by  Mr.  Sergeant. 

"  In  compliance  with  a  request  to  testify  w  hat  I  know  of  the  mat 
ter  embraced  in  the  above  statement  by  Judge  Berrien,  I  have  care 
fully  examined  the  same  and  concur  with  him  in  every  part  of  it,  ex 
cepting  only  that  which  details  the  conversation  he  had  with  Mr. 
Webster.  The  rest  is  personally  known  to  me  ;  but  not  having  been 
present  at  the  interview  between  Judge  Berrien  and  Mr.  Wrebster,  I 
cannot  speak  of  it  from  any  knowledge  of  my  own.  I  well  remem 
ber,  however,  that  Judge  Berrien  told  me  of  what  had  passed,  very 
soon  after  he  had  seen  Mr.  Webster  (I  think  on  the  same  day)  in 
substance  as  he  had  reduced  it  to  writing  .  so  that  I  never  had  a 
doubt,  and  have  not  of  its  correctness.  This  conviction  is  confirmed 


400  POLITICAL    PAPERS. 

The  interview  of  Messrs.  Berrien  and  Sergeant  with  the 
President  was  on  the  i8th  of  August.  The  Bill  was  prepared 
on  the  iQth  and  submitted  to  the  President  and  approved  by 
him.  It  was  then  returned  to  Mr.  Sergeant,  who,  on  Friday, 
the  2oth,  introduced  it  into  the  House  as  an  amendment  to  a 
bill  then  pending  in  Committee  of  the  Whole.  On  Monday, 
the  23d,  at  4  o'clock,  it  was  taken  out  of  committee  and  pass 
ed,  without  the  alteration  of  a  word  from  the  original  report, 
by  a  vote  of  125  to  94. 

Every  one  now  supposed  all  difficulties  in  regard  to  the  Fis 
cal  Agency  question  were  at  an  end.  The  bill  was  passed  in 
the  Senate,  without  amendment,  on  Friday,  the  30!  of  Septem 
ber. 

In  six  days  afterward — Thursday,  the  9th — it  was  return 
ed  to  the  House  of  Representatives  with  a  Veto  !  — This  bill,  the 
"  long-endeared"  progeny  of  the  President's  own  fancy,  met 
its  end  from  the  President's  own  veto  ! 

The  Message  which  accompanied  the  return  of  the  bill  is 
altogether  the  most  extraordinary  paper  that  ever  came  from  an 
Executive  of  this  nation.  It  repeats  again  and  again  the  jar 
gon  of  a  Bank  to  operate  per  se.  He  cannot  go  for  a  Bank  to 
operate  per  se.  He  said  so  in  his  former  Veto  : — this  is  a 

by  conversations  between  Mr.  Webster  and  myself,  which  took  place 
after  the  meeting  with  Mr.  Ewing  referred  to  by  Judge  Berrien,  and 
before  I  moved  the  proposed  bill  in  the  House  of  Representatives. 
These  conversations  were  brief,  but  they  were  by  appointment  and 
not  casual ;  were  earnest  and  to  the  point, — so  that  I  do  not  think 
there  was  any  error  in  my  understanding  of  them  at  the  time,  nor  in 
my  recollection  since. 

I  desire  farther  to  say,  as  I  can  do  with  unhesitating  confidence, 
that  my  sole  object  in  the  whole  proceeding,  and,  I  believe,  the  ob 
ject  generally  of  those  who  took  part  in  it,  was,  by  a  candid  ascer 
tainment  and  comparison  of  individual  views  and  mutual  explana 
tions,  fairly  obtained  in  perfect  good  faith,  to  endeavor  to  conciliate 
opinion  and  agree  upon  a  measure  which  could  become  a  law  and 
meet  the  public  exigency.  So  far  as  I  know 'or  believe,  there  was  no 
other  purpose  whatever.  JOHN  SERGEANT. 

"Philadelphia,  Nov.  2,  1841." 


A    DEFENCE    OF    THE    WHIGS.  -iOi 

Bank  to  operate  per  se — Ergo,  he  cannot  go  for  it. — Then 
comes  a  dash  of  rigmarole  about  "  the  moral  and  religious  ob 
ligations  of  Conscience  and  the  Constitution,"  the  sanctity  of 
his  oath,  and  such  like.  Then  a  descant  on  the  "  great  con 
servative  principle"  of  the  Veto,  "  without  the  exercise  of  which, 
on  important  occasions,  a  mere  representative  majority  might 
urge  the  government  in  its  legislation  beyond  the  limits  fixed 
by  its  framers" — which  freak  of  a  mere  representative  majority, 
he,  Mr.  Tyler,  will  by  no  means  permit.  He  must  be  rather 
harsh  in  this  matter  "or  commit  an  act  of  gross  moral  turpi 
tude"  His  duty  is  "  to  guard  the  fundamental  will  of  the  peo 
ple  themselves  from  infraction  by  a  majority  in  Congress" 

Then  what  sort  of  a  corporation  is  this  ?  It  is  to  operate 
per  se.  It  is  National,  although  it  is  to  be  established  in  the 
District.  You  may  see  it  is  national,  because  it  has  to  per 
form  certain  duties  for  the  Government.  He  is  not  the  man 
to  be  deceived  by  such  a  cunning  evasion  as  incorporating  it 
in  the  District !  Then,  decidedly  it  operates  per  se  over  the 
Union  :  that  can  by  no  means  be  tolerated.  Even  if  it  were 
a  District  Bank, — can  you  give  a  District  Bank  general  or  na 
tional  powers  ?  "  Who  can  indulge  the  idea  that  this  Govern 
ment  can  rightfully,  by  making  a  State  Bank  its  fiscal  agent, 
invest  it  with  the  absolute  and  unqualified  powers  conferred 
by  this  bill  ?" 

And  now,  as  to  these  bills  of  Exchange — what  are  they  ? 
They  may  be  unlimited  as  to  'time — they  may  be  renewable — • 
they  may  be  made  to  answer  the  purposes  of  mere  accommo 
dation.  In  fact  this  thing  of  exchange  is  no  better  than  local 
discounts  : — local  discounts  in  disguise  !  I  cannot  go  for  any 
Exchange  which  takes  off  any  thing  from  the  amount  of  the 
bill.  That's  discount,  and  discount  is  unconstitutional — my 
utter  abomination  : — Talk  not  to  me  of  discounts  !  As  to  for 
bidding  persons  residing  in  the  same  State  from  drawing  bills 
on  each  other,  which  you  have  put  into  this  charter,  what's  the 
value  of  it  as  long  as  bills  may  be  drawn  in  Philadelphia  on 
Camden,  Cincinnati  on  Newport  ?  Another  objection  j  there 


402  POLITICAL    PAPERS. 

is  no  limit  set  in  the  rate  of  Exchange.  And  then  again,  this 
thing  which  you  pretend  to  call  a  National  Bank,  might  actu 
ally  grow  so  powerful  as  to  be  able  even  to  control  the  State 
Banks,  which  "  would  either  have  to  continue  with  their  doors 
closed,  or  exist  at  the  mercy  of  this  National  Monopoly  of  Bro 
kerage  !"  There  is  the  cloven  foot  of  the  "  Old  Monster"  as 
bad  as  ever  !  And  again, — worse  than  all, — being  determined 
to  set  my  face  against  that  unconstitutional  enormity  of  local 
discount — I  remark,  "  That  while  the  District  of  Columbia  is 
made  the  seat  of  the  principal  Bank,  its  citizens  are  excluded 
from  all  participation  in  any  benefit  it  might  afford,  by  a  'posi 
tive  prohibition  on  the  Bank  from  all  discounting  within  the  Dis 
trict" — A  doubly  monstrous  monster  1 

All  this  parade  of  objurgation  winds  up  dolefully  with  a 
long-drawn  sigh  for  the  "  anxious  solicitude"  he  feels  "  to  meet 
the  wishes  of  Congress  in  the  adoption  of  a  Fiscal  Agent ;" — 
a  regret  in  behalf  of  his  unsatisfied  conscience  ;  and  a  whin 
ing  remonstrance,  and  prayer  for  farther  time  to  collect  his 
thoughts,  which  have  been,  ever  since  "  the  death  of  my  la 
mented  predecessor,"  so  "  wholly,  occupied  in  an  anxious  at 
tempt  to  conform  my  action  to  the  Legislative  will."  Con 
gress  has  surely  had  glory  enough  without  setting  this  chaplet 
upon  its  brow  !  "  The  two  Houses  have  distinguished  them 
selves  by  the  performance  of  an  immense  mass  of  labor,  and 
have  passed  many  laws  which,  I  trust,  will  prove  highly  bene 
ficial  to  the  interests  of  the  country,  and  fully  answer  its  just 
expectations.  It  has  been  my  good  fortune  and  pleasure  to  con 
cur  with  them  in  all  measures  except  this.  And  why  should  our 
difference  on  this  alone  be  pushed  to  extremes  ?" 

With  such  "  skimble-skamble  stuff"  as  this,  did  he  seek  to 
cover  his  desertion  of  his  post  as  a  Whig,  and  to  protect  his 
inarch  into  the  camp  of  the  enemy  :  to  hide  his  conscious 
shame  from  the  multitude  who  were  standing  by  as  witnesses 
to  his  defection. 

He,  himself  the  author  of  that  original  idea  of  a  Bank  in 
the  District  intrusted  with  the  national  duty  of  a  Fiscal  Agent ; 


A   DEFENCE    OF   THE    WHIGS.  4Ud 

he,  the  author  of  the  Bank  of  Local  Discount ; — he,  the  author 
of  this  Bank  of  Exchange,  with  all  its  provisions  is  it  stood, — 
originator,  supervisor  and  approver  of  this  identical  scheme, 
unchanged  in  letter  or  syllable  as  it  came  from  his  hand — 
pours  forth  such  wretched  drivelling  before  the  whole  American 
people  :  so  coolly  abandoning  what  he  had  professed  and  prom 
ised  ;  so  deliberately  taking  back  all  that  he  had  so  ostenta 
tiously  put  forward  ;  with  such  pitiful  appeal  for  commiseration 
forsaking  his  pledge  ;  with  such  affected  martyr-meekness  vio 
lating  his  faith  ! — That  he  could  write  such  a  Message — send 
it  to  the  Legislative  Hall  where  American  citizens  were  con 
gregated — give  it  to  the  world  of  the  American  people — and 
hope  to  be  believed — forgiven ! 

III. 

PROGRAMME    OF   THE   TWELFTH    OF   JUNE. A   SHUTTLECOCK. 

What  was  the  real  secret  of  these  vetoes?  Was  it  con 
science  ?  Was  it  political  fidelity  ?  Was  it  deference  to  the 
just  expectations  of  the  people  ? 

Mr.  Gushing,  in  his  letter  to  his  constituents,  heretofore 
quoted,  said  it  was  conscience — political  fidelity — consistency 
of  principle.  "  He  conscientiously  disapproved  those  bills" — 
says  Mr.  Gushing  : — "  in  what  he  has  done,  he  has  but  acted 
in  accordance  with  the  long-avowed,  well-known,  and  persever 
ing  opinions  of  his  whole  life."  That  is  Mr.  Cushing's  apology. 
What  a  Jack-a-Lantern  tramp  this  gentleman  has  had,  in  order 
to  keep  pace  with  the  President's  rambles  ! — Hear  him,  in  that 
same  letter.  "  It  was  known  generally,  and  it  was  known  par 
ticularly  to  those  members  of  Congress  who,  by  their  experi 
ence  and  political  position,  had  the  best  opportunity  and  the 
greatest  inducements  to  obtain  a  clear  understanding  of  the 
facts  in  this  respect,  that  the  President  of  the  United  States 
had  strong  and  fixed  convictions  concerning  a  National  Bank :" 
— Here  manifestly  Mr.  Gushing  plunges  into  his  first  quag 
mire  : — Strong&b&  fixed  convictions  ! — "  that  it  was  his  anxious 


404:  POLITICAL    PAPERS. 

wish,  so  far  as  his  conscientious  opinions  would  permit,  to  con 
form  his  action  in  this  matter  to  the  wishes  of  Congress" — 
most  obviously  another  quagmire  : — Congress  was  seeking  to 
conform  to  his  wish  :  thought  they  had  ascertained  it  from  him 
self  :  had  his  own  Presidential  word  for  it : — "  that,  accordingly, 
he  had  reflected  much  and  counselled  with  his  constitutional 
advisers  on  the  subject,  and  that  among  other  conclusions,  to 
which  he  arrived,  was  this — Either  no  Discounts ;  or,  if  dis 
counts,  then  assent  of  States. — The  President  never  lost  sight 
of  the  fundamental  idea  originally  in  his  mind  ; — either  no  dis 
counts,  or  if  discounts,  assent  of  States." 

There  is  Mr.  Cushing's  solution  most  logically  put.  the 
Jack  a  Lantern  has  left  him  a  full  fathom  deep  in  the  fen. 

Does  it  solve  the  riddle  of  Mr.  Tyler's  vagaries,  in  this 
Bank  matter,  to  throw  it  into  such  a  dashing  syllogism  ? 

Mark  these  conclusions  : 

The  President's  "  strong  and  fixed  convictions,"  "  his  long- 
avowed,  well-known,  persevering  and  conscientious  opinions  " 
were, 

First,  That  it  is  constitutional  and  expedient  to  establish  a 
Bank  in  the  District  of  Columbia,  with  all  the  faculties  neces 
sary  to  a  Government  Bank. 

Second,  That  it  is  constitutional  and  proper  to  make  this 
a  Bank  of  discount,  provided  the  assent  of  States  be  required 
for  the  establishment  of  the  Branches  : — and 

Third,  That  if  that  assent  be  not  required,  then  it  is  con 
stitutional  and  proper  to  establish  a  Bank  to  deal  in  Exchange 
without  a  power  of  Local  Discount. 

These  are  Mr.  Tyler's  opinions  respecting  a  Bank,  as 
vouched  for  by  his  confidential  friend  and  champion,  Mr. 
Gushing.  Possibly  enough,  at  one  instant,  they  were  so.  Be 
fore  his  first  Veto  they  were  broader  still.  After  his  first  Veto 
they  were  narrowed  to  this.  After  his  second  Veto,  what  were 
his  opinions  ?  Let  any  man  read  that  Veto  Message  and  say 
if  Mr.  Tyler  on  the  9th  of  September  was  in  favor  of  a  Bank 
in  the  District;  was  in  favor  of  a  Bank  of  Discount ;  was  in 


A    DEFENCE    OF    THE    WHIGS.  405 

favor  of  a  Bank  of  Exchange : — whatever  he  might  have  been 
on  the  i6th  of  August, — on  the  ist  of  June. 

I  ask  again — What  was  the  real  secret  of  these  Vetoes  ? 

When  the  President  came  to  Washington  in  April,  1841. 
in  the  youthful  prime  and  ardent  hopes  of  his  new-fledged  power 
— I  believe  he  came  with  a  hearty  spirit  of  thankfulness  to  those 
who  had  brought  him  to  this  extraordinary  fortune,  and  with 
an  honest  thought  of  evincing  that  thankfulness  by  a  full,  fair 
and  manly  furtherance  of  the  great  objects  which  had  embodied 
the  Whig  party.  In  the  glow  of  this  feeling  he  made  that 
proclamation  "  you  have  only  lost  one  Whig  to  gain  another." 
In  the  glow  of  this  feeling  he  wrote  and  published  his  Inaugu 
ral  address,  so  full  of  promise — promise  that  he  really  then  in 
tended  to  keep.  In  this  genial  and  auspicious  mood  reap- 
pointed  the  Harrison  Cabinet :  felt  that  there  was  no  duty 
upon  him  as  a  magistrate  more  sacred  than  that  of  hearty  and 
zealous  co-operation-  with  the  Whigs ;  upon  him,  as  a  man, 
more  touching  his  personal  honor,  than  to  comport  himself 
toward  the  Whigs  with  unquestionable  good  faith. — These,  let 
us  have  the  charity  to  believe,  were  his  ruling  emotions. 

When  the  Message  for  Congress  was  prepared  these  better 
influences  still  prevailed — still  prevailed  in  the  first  four  or 
five  days  of  the  session. 

But  when  men  gathered  round  him  ;  when  associations  and 
cliques  began  to  plot  and  speak  out;  when  the  opposition 
found  they  had  a  man  to  flatter ;  when  others  found  they  had 
a  man  to  lead,  the  demeanor  of  the  President  was  remarked 
to  have  undergone  a  change. 

There  were  many  in  Washington  who  saw,  with  inexpressi 
ble  sorrow,  that  the  President  began  to  grow  ambitious  and  to 
look  to  the  prospect  of  ^another  term.  Whether  this  were  an 
original  conception  of  his  own,  or  whether  it  were  infused  into 
his  mind  by  others,  it  is  not  my  purpose  in  inquire — but  it  was 
lamentably  apparent  that  that  idea  had  taken  possession  of  his 
thoughts.  He  has  denied  it ; — and,  as  proof,  has  appealed  to 
the  fact  that,  in  preparing  his  Second  Veto  Message,  he  pro- 


.].  )  ;  POLITICAL    PAPERS. 

posed  to  introduce  a  declaration  that  he  would  not  be  a  can 
didate. — Whether  on  the  Qth  of  September,  his  conduct  had 
become  so  equivocal  as  to  make  it  necessary  to  resort  to  this 
device  of  denial  of  his  ambitious  hopes,  is  a  point  of  little  sig 
nificance.  It  certainly  is  suspicious  enough  to  find  Mr.  John 
Tyler,  at  any  period,  under  a  necessity  of  making  proclamation 
that  he  is  not  a  candidate  for  "  a  second  term." — What  put 
"such  toys  of  desperation"  in  his  mind? 

I  say  it  is  significant  enough,  that  Mr.  John  Tyler  should 
have  got  himself  into  such  suspicion,  as  to  make  it  necessary 
for  him  to  explain  that  he  did  not  seek  "  a  second  term." — For, 
on  this  Second  Term  question,  Mr.  Tyler  was  something  of  a 
Knight  Errant.  He  claimed  to  be  one  of  the  first  men  in  the 
nation  to  denounce  it :  wrote  a  letter  against  it,  which  has  been 
often  quoted ; — drank  a  toast  which  ran  in  this  wise — "  Pil 
grim  Presidents  and  Travelling  Cabinets,  the  fruitful  offspring 
of  the  Second  Presidential  Term  :  One  Term  and  no  Re-elec 
tion  :  the  best  interests  of  the  country  demand  it.  Will  not 
the  popular  suffrage  sustain  it  in  1840?" — Indited  some  pun 
gent  essays  in  the  Richmond  paper  on  this  point, — if  rumor 
does  him  justice. — He  was  a  Knight  Errant,  therefore,  as  we 
say,  and  had  broken  a  lance  in  this  cause — was  somewhat 
Quixotic  upon  it.  There  must  have  been  pregnant  matter  in 
his  conscience  which  could  whisper  to  him — Say  to  the  world, 
when  you  put  your  Veto  on  a  Bank,  you  will  not  be  a  candi 
date  : — even  in  so  incongruous  a  way  and  on  so  odd  an  occa 
sion  as  this,  say  so. — Truly,  the  man  who  in  his  category, 
should  be  reduced  to  the  strait  of  certifying,  in  such  wise,  that 
all  his  original  Quixotism  in  favor  of  "  a  single  term  "  was  in 
deed  genuine,  and  not  mere  falsehood, — such  a  man  has 
brought  himself  into  a  necessity  for  better  vouchers  than  his 
own  word  ! —  Why  is  he  a  candidate  now — NOW,  after  all  this 
zeal  of  denial  ?  Has  he  exemplified  in  his  own  experience 
that  all  his  arguments  against  "  a  second  term"  are  futile  ? 
Has  he  found  out  that  the  incumbent  of  the  Presidency  has 
no  inclination  or  motive  to  use  his  patronage  and  influence  to 


A   DEFENCE   OF   THE    WHIGS.  407 

make  him  friends  for  an  election  ? — or  that  these  things  are 
not  so  corrupt  as  he  fancied  ? — or,  being  corrupt,  that  they 
are  none  the  worse  for  that  ? 

Mr.  Tyler's  conduct  can  be  reconciled  to  no  theory  but  this, 
— that  he  had  set  his  thoughts  upon  a  second  term.  The  in 
cidents  of  the  day  all  pointed  to  it.  His  express  declaration  to 
Mr.  Botts  confirmed  it. 

It  was  very  evident  that,  as  a  Whig,  he  could  hope  for  no 
success  in  this  enterprise.  The  strong  antipathy  of  the  Whigs 
was  arrayed  against  a  second  term  : — it  had  been  written  on 
their  banner.  It  was  not  against  a  second  election,  but  against 
a  second  term, — whether  the  first  were  by  election  or  by  accident 
— that  they  had  taken  their  stand.  They  went  against  the  prin 
ciple,  as  tending  to  corruption, — the  principle  of  a  President  de 
facto  being  under  inducements  to  electioneer  for  another  period 
of  incumbency  in  office.  This  applied  to  a  Vice-President  ac 
cidentally  elevated,  as  well  as  to  a  President  elected.  Mr.  Ty 
ler  knew  this,  and  knew  that  from  the  Whigs  he  could  expect 
nothing  farther,  even  if  he  had  been  the  worthiest  and  best  be 
loved  in  their  ranks.  Therefore,  he  meditated  desertion  from 
the  Whigs. 

Having  come  to  this  point,  he  cast  about  him  to  make  some 
fair  and  plausible  show  of  pretext  for  the  deed.  He  was  told 
— "  Quarrel  with  Mr.  Clay,  the  peculiar  favorite,  friend,  leader 
of  the  Whigs : — denounce  him  as  a  Dictator : — charge  the 
Whigs  with  Caucus  Domination : — and,  above  all  things,  Veto 
a  Bank ! — in  this  Veto  you  will  gain  two  great  helps — the  De 
mocracy  will  call  you  Deliverer — the  Abstractionist  will  call 
you  High  Priest.  A  Third  Party  will  grow  on  these  founda 
tions  which  shall  be  numbered  as  the  leaves  of  the  forest,  Head, 
Chief,  Oracle  of  this  third  party,  the  Presidency  and  all  its  glo 
ries  will  be  yours  for  another,  and  perhaps  another  term." 

This  advice  was  taken.'  Mr.  Clay  was  forthwith  denounced 
as  the  Dictator — denounced  even  before  Congress  had  well  set 
about  the  work  of  the  session ;  long  before  Mr.  Clay  had  op 
portunity  to  dictate  an  amendment  even  to  a  single  measure. 


408  POLITICAL    PAPEKS. 

Here  I  invoke  Scapin  again. 

The  New  York  Herald  of  June  i2th  presents  the  affairs  at 
Washington  in  this  position — 

"  ist.  From  demonstrations  in  the  House  it  may  be  safely 
assumed  that  there  is  in  that  body  a  majority  in  favor  of  some 
sort  of  a  National  Bank,  of  at  least  thirty  votes. 

"  2d.  In  the  Senate  a  similar  majority  of,  at  least,  three,  and 
probably  five. 

"3d.  Mr.  Clay  has  the  entire  control  of  loth  Houses,  and  his 
influence  has  predominated  in  the  organization  of  all  the  im 
portant  committees. 

"  4th.  There  is  a  most  thorough  and  cordial  understanding 
between  Mr.  Webster  and  the  President.  This  is  a  curious 
fact,  and  grows  out  of  the  political  history  and  present  position 
of  each. 

"  5th.  Mr.  Tyler  and  Mr.  Clay  must  quarrel.  Mr.  Clay  is 
overbearing  to  an  extraordinary  degree,  and  the  President  will 
not  submit  to  his  dictation  much  longer. 

"  6th.  If  the  influence  of  Mr.  Clay  shall  carry  through  Con 
gress  a  bank  charter,  conflicting  at  all  with  the  President's  con 
stitutional  notions,  it  will  be  vetoed  by  John  Tyler  beyond  a 
doubt :  and  this  act  will  at  once  break  down  both  the  great  parties, 
Whig  and  Locofoco — reorganize  the  masses  anew — -produce  an  ex 
traordinary  excitement  throughout  the  country,  and  probably  carry 
John  Tyler  into  the  next  Presidency,  by  an  ovenvhclming  force, 
and  place  Daniel  Webster  in  the  line  of  succession" 

This  was  the  announcement  of  the  Government  paper,  in 
the  City  of  New-York,  on  the  i 2th  of  June,  1841,  within  the 
first  fortnight  of  the  session, — before  Mr.  Ewing's  bill  was  re 
ported  to  Congress,  and  before  any  business  of  moment  had 
been  brought  to  the  view  of  either  House  ! 

Making  allowance  for  the  time  necessary  to  prepare  and 
transmit  these  views  from  Washington  to  New  York,  scarce  a 
week  from  the  commencement  of  the  session  could  have  elapsed 
before  this  proclamation  was  made  of  Mr.  Clay's  disposition 
to  play  the  dictator.  During  that  week  both  Houses  had  ad- 


A    DEFENCE   OF    THE    WHIGS.  409 

journed  from  the  2d  to  the  yth  with  a  view  to  organization. 
Nothing  had  been  done  :  apparently,  nothing  but  good  feeling 
and  pleasant  anticipation  prevailed. 

This  paper  is  very  noteworthy  for  two  characteristics :  the 
singular  accuracy  with  which  it  sets  forth  the  President's  as 
pirations  and  the  means  by  which  he  hoped  to  accomplish  them  ; 
and  the  foreshadowing  it  gives  of  the  precontrived  plan  by 
which  Mr.  Clay  was  to  be  vituperated  and  shorn  of  his  influ 
ence.  The  charge  against  Mr.  Clay  of  dictating  to  the  Presi 
dent,  or  manifesting  an  overbearing  demeanor  toward  him  or 
toward  any  one  else,  here,  in  the  first  week  of  his  appearance 
at  Washington  under  the  new  administration,  is  sufficiently  ab 
surd  upon  the  mere  statement  of  it.  The  other  charge  against 
him  of  controlling  the  two  Houses,  through  the  organization  of 
the  Committees,  is  childishly  false,  as  any  one  may  see  who 
will  examine  these  committees  :  as  every  one  at  Washington 
knew. 

This  paper,  however,  is  a  most  ominous  presignification  of 
the  coming  events. 

Can  we  read  such  an  announcement  as  this — this  laying 
off,  in  advance,  a  quarrel  between  the  President  and  Mr.  Clay  • 
— this  prophecy  of  the  Veto; — this  foredooming  of  both  par 
ties  to  dissolution ; — this  strange  prestige  of  Mr.  Webster's 
fate  ; — this  reckoning  upon  the  future  popularity  of  John  Ty 
ler, — and  this  prediction  of  his  candidacy  for  another  term  ?  Can 
we  read  these  remarkable  paragraphs,  published  so  early  as 
the  1 2th  of  June,  1841,  in  a  journal,  the  chosen  champion 
of  the  administration,  its  flatterer  and  organ  in  New  York — 
can  we  read  these  and  fail  to  see  in  them  the  casting  of  a  horo 
scope  by  an  astrologer  who  consulted  his  hopes  rather  than 
his  stars  ? 

The  files  of  the  Herald  furnish  innumerable  proofs,  from 
this  time  forth,  of  the  effort  at  the  White  House  to  spread 
abroad  the  hopes  and  fears  raised  by  this  programme  of  politi 
cal  action.  The  effort  was  so  far  successful  that,  from  that  day, 
all  who  were  disposed  to  flatter  the  President  spoke  of  Mr. 
18 


410 


POLITICAL    PAPEKS. 


Clay  as  "  The  Dictator."  Nothing  was  understood  to  be  more 
agreeable  to  the  Presidential  ear  than  to  hear  that  word. 

The  Veto  was  a  more  difficult  point  to  carry.  The  Pres 
ident  stood  so  committed  on  the  Bank ;  had  given  such  no 
toriety  to  his  ambition  to  establish  a  Bank,  that  he  lack 
ed  the  courage  to  come  boldly  up  to  this  flagrant  tergiversa 
tion.  He  wavered,  faltered,  writhed  to  escape.  Then,  like  a 
man  drawn  two  ways  by  tugs  of  supposed  interest  and  real  re 
morse,  he  fell  to  equivocation :  paltered  with  both  sides.  It 
was  lamentable  to  see  a  human  being  so  tossed  by  opposing 
forces — lamentable  to  witness  the  reverberations  of  such  a 
shuttlecock. 

In  the  alternate  visits  which  he  received  from  persons  of 
varying  opinions  on  this  bank  question,  each  came  away  with 
a  fixed  conviction  that  the  President  would  sign  the  bill,  or  veto, 
according  to  the  hopes  of  the  visitor. — The  last-comer  always 
seemed  to  have  him. — To  Mr.  Smith  he  protests  his  inclination 
to  sign  : — "  If  the  Bill  only  had  this  out,  and  that  in, — he  would 
certainly  sign. — In  regard  to  the  Exchange  Bank,  what  could 
be  so  agreeable  to  him,  as  to  sign  that  Bill !" — To  Mr.  Brown, 
he  declares  "he  will  certainly  Veto  that  or  any  bill." 

"  We  will  prepare  the  bill  to  suit  yourself :  it  shall  be  entire 
ly  as  you  wish  it.  We  will  give  you  the  Exchange  Bank  in 
your  own  words" — say  those  who  come  from  the  Whigs. 

"  That  Exchange  Bank  has  been  long  endeared  to  me," 
replies  the  President.  "  Pass  that ;  you  can  do  it  in  three  days 
— I  will  be  under  eternal  obligations  to  you.  Change  the  name  : 
call  it  Fiscal  Corporation.  I  will  sign  it  cheerfully." 

"  Remember ! "  ejaculates  the  other  side,  in  a  sepulchral 
voice — "  Veto  a  Bank,  or  surrender  all  hope  of  future  glory. 
Remember !" 

"Alas,  I  have  promised  to  sign" — groaned  the  unhappy 
man.  "  To  this  bill  I  am  deeply  pledged.  How  can  I  escape  ? 
Spare  me  this  !  " 

"  Pledged  ! — are  you  not  pledged  to  the  glorious  certainty 
of  another  term?  Were  you  not  born  to  redeem  the  land  ?  Can 


A   DEFENCE   OF   THE    WHIGS.  411 

you  hesitate  when  such  brilliant  hopes  beckon  you  onward  ? — 
be  a  man,  and  Veto." 

"  It  is  my  own  bill — there  are  witnesses  against  me." 

"  Outface  your  witnesses — denounce  the  Bill  or  look  for  no 
favor  from  the  Democracy — look  for  no  third  party — look  for — " 
"  If  I  had  not  proposed  the  plan — if  I  had  not  seen  the  bill — 
if  I  had  not  approved  it" — again  sighed  the  President. 

"Can  you  fine  no  quirp  no  quillet? — you  an  old  politician  ! 
Where  are  all  your  abstractions  ?  Take  courage.  Veto  the 
Bill.  Jackson  rose  upon  a  Veto  ;  his  name  will  make  it  popu 
lar.  So  Veto  the  bill,  no  matter  what  shape  it  take !" 

These  counsels — these  hopes — these  terrors  prevailed,  and 
the  Veto  came  at  last — though  well-nigh  lost  from  faintheart 
edness. 

The  quarrel  with  Mr.  Clay  being  now  well  hatched ;  Mr. 
Clay  himself  successfully  denounced  as  "The  Dictator;"  the 
Veto  being  secured, — the  prosperous  actors  in  this  little  drama 
had  nothing  left  to  do,  but  to  lie  by  and  wait  patiently  for  that 
promised  surging  storm  which  was  to  wreck  both  of  the  old  par 
ties  and  on  whose  friendly  billows  the  ambitious  Shuttlecock  of 
the  day  was  to  be  wafted  to  his  predicted  popularity. — To  a  cer 
tainty,  it  has  come ! 

IV. 

DISMISSAL  OF  THE  CABINET. — THE  CHEATS  OF  SCAPIN. 

The  next  movement  was  to  quarrel  with  the  Cabinet.  It 
was  very  clear  that  the  great  game  of  the  programme  of  the  i2th 
of  June  could  not  be  played  out,  in  friendly  association  with 
the  Harrison  Cabinet. 

That  Cabinet  consisted  of  the  picked  men  of  the  Whig 
party,  and  was  looked  upon  as  the  living  personation  of  Whig 
principles.  It  possessed  the  most  commanding  talent.  It 
was  distinguished  for  its  lofty  bearing,  its  honorable  frankness 
and  fidelity,  and  for  its  thorough  rightmindedness  in  the  doc 
trines  and  aims  of  the  party  to  which  it  belonged.  No  sinis 
ter  object  could  be  accomplished  while  that  Cabinet  had  swr 


412  POLITICAL    PAPEKS. 

Mr.  Tyler  had  not  the  courage  to  attack  it  openly.  On  the 
contrary,  to  the  last,  he  affected  to  entertain  the  most  friendly 
sentiments  toward  it : — marvelled  even  that  any  member  of  it 
could  find  motive  to  resign. 

His  Veto  Message  of  the  gth  of  September,  whines,  as  I 
have  said,  on  the  topic  of  his  Whig  attachments.  "  It  has 
been  my  good  fortune  and  pleasure  to  concur  with  Congress  in 
all  measures  except  this.  Why  should  our  difference  in  this 
alone  be  pushed  to  extremes  ?  It  is  my  anxious  desire  that  it 
should  not  be.  May  we  not  now  pause  until  a  more  favora 
ble  time  when,  with  the  most  anxious  hope  that  the  Executive 
and  Congress  may  cordially  unite,  some  measure  of  finance 
may  be  deliberately  adopted  promotive  of  the  good  of  our 
common  country?"  This,  on  the  9th  of  September,  1841. 
Here  is  a  profession  of  fellowship.  On  the  i3th  of  Septem 
ber  Mr.  Webster  said,  "  I  have  seen  no  sufficient  reasons  for 
the  dissolution  of  the  late  Cabinet  by  the  voluntary  act  of  its 
own  members." 

It  is  quite  apparent  that  Mr.  Tyler  wished  to  represent  him 
self  to  the  country  as  holding  the  defensive  :  that  the  dissolu- 
•  tion  of  the  Whig  Cabinet  was  not  of  his  seeking  ;  that  he  was 
for  harmony  and  union. 

Now,  it  is  a  fact  well  known,  notwithstanding  these  profes 
sions,  that  Mr.  Tyler  had  been  at  work  to  form  a  new  Cabinet : 
to  get  rid  of  the  old. 

In  the  first  place,  he  held  no  such  free  communication  with 
his  Cabine^  on  these  delicate  questions  of  the  Veto,  as  a 
friendly  President  would  hold  with  officers  so  confidentially 
connected  with  the  administration.  They  were  taunted  with 
this  in  the  public  papers. 

On  the  roth  of  August  the  Herald  letter  has  the  following : 

"  The  impression  is  gaining  ground  that  there  must  be  an 
entire  recomposition  of  the  Cabinet  in  the  event  of  a  Veto. 
Every  member,  it  is  understood,  lent  himself  to  the  views  of 
Mr.  Clay,  and  encouraged  the  subterfuge  which  is  facetiously 
called  a  compromise,  and  no  one  of  them,  therefore,  can  sus- 


A    PEFENCF   OF   THE   WHIGS.  413 

tain  the  President  in  a  Veto.  Is  it  not  obvious,  then,  that 
there  must  be  a  dissolution  ?  Up  to  this  morning  not  one  of 
his  constitutional  advisers  was  apprised  of  the  President's  de 
termination  about  the  Bank  Bill.  It  is  apparent,  therefore, 
that  there  is  no  cordial  understanding  between  the  Executive 
and  his  ministry,  and  a  change  must  come  of  course." 

From  this  time  forward  this  correspondence  is  full  of  hints 
of  the  President's  dislike  of  his  Cabinet  Their  successors 
are  frequently  named — several  of  them  in  accordance  with  the 
subsequent  appointments. 

On  the  6th  of  September  a  letter  singularly  impertinent  is 
published.  As  if  impatient  that  the  Cabinet  had  continued 
insensible  of  these  hints  so  long,  Scapin  writes  in  terms  of  in 
solent  insult. 

I  make  more  extracts  from  this  letter  than  others — because, 
though  coming  from  the  back  stairs,  it  is  very  notable  as  the 
language  of  a  familiar  at  the  White  House. 

"  The  Bank  Bill  will  be  returned  on  Wednesday  or  Thurs 
day,  with  a  Veto  Message  to  the  House  of  Representatives 
where  the  bill  originated.  The  Clay  men  have  held  a  caucus 
and  decided  that  it  will  be  best  to  receive  the  Message  without 
any  particular  demonstrations  of  hostility  to  the  President. 
Their  animosity  has  cooled  down  to  a  calculation  of  chances. 
They  think  it  wiser  to  receive  the  Message  with  some  defer 
ence  to  the  character  and  position  of  the  President,  by  which 
course  of  proceeding  it  is  hoped  a  dissolution  of  the  Cabinet  may  be 
prevented.  In  this  way  they  propose  respectively  to  return  to 
their  constituents,  and,  by  a  common  movement,  arouse  the 
people  against  Mr.  Tyler,  while  they  are  still  in  league  with  the 
Cabinet.  They  are  to  return  to  the  siege  in  the  shape  of  in 
dignation  meetings,  newspaper  denunciation,  and  other  affili 
ated  hostile  movements,  extending  all  over  the  country,  while 
in  the  interval  of  a  calm  of  a  few  weeks,  it  is  hoped  the  Presi 
dent  will,  in  his  great  good  nature,  confide  the  keys  of  the  for 
tress  to  their  allies  and  his  secret  enemies. 

"  Were  the  Clay  men  to  denounce  the  President  just  now,  it 


414:  POLITICAL    PAPERS. 

might  lead  to  an  immediate  breaking  up  of  the  Cabinet,  and 
these  magnanimous  gentlemen  might  lose  all  future  chance  of  getting 
offices.  The  Cabinet,  one  and  all,  are  hard  at  work  to  allay  all 
open  evidences  of  a  rupture,  and  counselling  their  friends  to  go 
home  and  raise  the  standard  of  revolt  there,  while  their  own  ef 
forts  are  directed  to  undermine  and  circumvent  the  President  here. 
This  is  their  game.  Who  would  have  believed  that  high-mindea 
and  honorable  men,  for  such  members  of  the  Cabinet  ought  to 
be,  would  thus  concert  a  system  of  party  movement,  by  which  to 
destroy  the  very  man  at  whose  will  they  hold  their  offices,  and  who 
is  constitutionally  responsible  for  all  th£ir  official  acts  ?  What 
treachery !  What  ingratitude  !  Why  do  they  not  act  like  men, 
and,  at  once,  give  in  their  resignation,  and  suffer  the  President  to 
bring  to  his  aid  such  men  as  he  has  confidence  in  ?  Nothing  can 
exceed  the  industry  of  the  President.  He  rises  early  and  re 
tires  late.  Every  hour  of  the  day  is  devoted  to  his  duties. 
He  is  compelled  to  look  over  papers  and  decide  on  a  great 
mass  of  matters  that  would  be  handed  over  for  the  action  of  the 
Secretaries  if  they  were  men  really  his  friends  ;  but  he  knows  full 
well  the  secret  objects  the  leading  members  of  his  Cabinet  have  in 
view',  and,  of  course,  he  is  constrained  to  do  almost  every  thing 
himself.  There  is  a  total  absence  of  all  energy  in  every  branch 
of  the  Government.  The  cause  of  all  this  is  obvious.  The 
President  and  his  Cabinet  are  mutually  mistrustful  of  each  other, 
— there  is,  there  can  be,  no  cordial,  confiding  co-operation  between 
them.  The  Cabinet  are  playing  the  game  of  the  President's  ene 
mies,  and  desire  nothing  so  much  as  his  defeat  and  dishonor.  As 
the  thing  works  now,  the  President  is  forced  to  play  into  Mr. 
Clay's  or  Mr.  Webster's  hands.  The  Cabinet  know  that  the 
President  feels  this  to  be  his  position,  and  yet  they  do  not,  wilt 
not  resign.  Look  at  the  dictatorial  tone  and  language  of  the 
Richmond  Whig,  the  Boston  Atlas,  the  Wall  Street  press — pa 
pers  that  have  always  defended  Mr.  Webster  and  Mr.  Clay— 
these  are  the  papers  which  are  the  most  bitter  and  the  most 
insolent  in  their  attacks  upon  Mr.  Tyler  and  his  friends. 
Who  can  doubt  that  these  papers  are  prompted  to  the  course  they 


A   DEFENCE    OF   TTIE    WHIGS.  415 

pursue  ly  Mr.  Webster  and  Mr.  Clay  ?  Mr.  Clay  is  pretty 
open — he  likes  a  fair  fight,  but  Mr.  Webster,  who  is  every  inch 
a  coward,  stabs  the  President  through  friends  whom  he  affects  to 
disavow.  Add  to  this  an  inordinate  love  for  the  honor  and 
emolument  of  station,  and  a  desire  to  pervert  their  official  in 
fluence  to  the  purposes  of  selfish  aggrandizement  hereafter, 
and  you  have  an  explanation  of  the  anomalous  circumstance  of 
men  of  reputation  and  character  holding  on  to  office,  while  it  in 
volves  personal  degradation,  and  indicates  both  a  total  want  of  self- 
respect  and  what  is  dut  to  the  President  of  the  United  States" 

No  idle,  chattering  gossip  was  this  of  floating  scandal,  or 
licentious  coinage  of  quidnuncs  of  the  capital.  It  was  a  voice 
from  the  innermost  chambers  of  the  President's  household  It 
tells  of  his  early  rising  and  late  lying  down,  his  private  labors 
and  his  secret  cares,  the  silent  griefs  of  his  soul.  Nor  was  it 
current  rumor  and  daily  news,  such  as  fill  the  pages  of  unpriv 
ileged  correspondents ;  but  it  is  the  earnest,  sorrowful  defence 
of  the  President  against  the  pressure  of  an  annoyance  which 
rests  upon  his  heart — the  companionship,  namely,  of  men  who 
were  in  his  way.  It  is  the  President  himself  speaking  through 
this  unofficial  and  irresponsible  organ  more  authentically  than 
he  spoke  in  levees  or  state  papers.  It  is  a  direct  strenuous 
effort  to  enlist  public  sympathy  in  his  behalf  against  a  Cabinet 
he  could  not  manfully  look  in  the  face. 

The  author  of  this  letter  was  a  familiar  and  daily  inmate  un 
der  the  President's  roof,  of  free  and  unquestioned  access  at  all 
times  ;  having  the  entry  of  the  private  door  ;  a  frequenter  of 
the  President's  board  and  family  circle,  and  sharing  the  confi 
dences  denied  to  other  men.  The  journal,  too,  in  which  this 
was  published,  was  the  President's  special  favorite — the  only 
defender  he  had  out  of  the  City  of  Washington  ;  by  his  orders 
the  recipient  of  government  emolument  and  patronage  ;  daily 
placed  upon  his  table  and  read,  for  its  flatteries  and  advoca 
cies,  with  eager  interest.  The  officers  of  the  Cabinet  were 
well  aware  of  this  ;  could  not  but  meet  this  paper  whenever 
they  went  to  the  President's  house.  Here  was  this  letter  and 


416  POLITICAL    PAPERS. 

others  of  a  kindred  stamp  ;  here  was  the  author  of  the  letter 
unrebuked, — not  only  unrebuked  but  fostered,  cultivated,  no 
torious  to  all  Wash  ington  for  his  terms  of  favor  with  the  house 
hold.  This  letter  especially  unrebuked — unchallenged, — un- 
contradicted.  How  could  they  remain  after  this  in  the  Cabi 
net  ? — as  gentlemen — as  honorable  men,  how  could  they  main 
tain  farther  association  with  the  man  who  committed  his  cause 
to  a  presumptuous  underling  that  dare  thus  libel  them?  I 
protest,  I  think  this  letter  alone  would  have  justified  a  rup 
ture.  Such  an  insult  could  not  be  offered  by  an  honorable 
President  to  honorable  Secretaries.  It  has  no  parallel  in  our 
past  history — I  hope  will  never  find  one  in  our  future. 

Mr.  Webster,  however,  thought  there  was  no  reason  for  the 
resignation  of  the  Secretaries.  Well,  that  is  a  matter  of  taste. 
I  am  not  disposed  to  dispute  it  with  him.  If  I  were  Daniel 
Webster,  I  think  I  should  have  resigned.  Mr.  Webster  was 
deceived.  He  thought,  at  least,  there  was  no  distrust  of  him. 
Manifestly  on  the  i2th  of  June  his  resignation  was  not  in  the 
programme.  Even  now — we  have  his  own  word  for  it— not 
withstanding  all  that  had  passed,  as  late  as  the  i3th  of  Sep 
tember  he  had  every  confidence  that  the  President  would  co 
operate  with  the  Whigs  "  in  overcoming  all  difficulties."  "  It 
is  to  the  union  of  the  Whig  party,"  said  he,  in  his  letter,  "  by 
which  I  mean  the  whole  Party,  the  Whig  President,  the  Whig- 
Congress,  and  the  Whig  People,  that  I  look  for  a  realization  of 
our  wishes." 

Mr.  Webster  was  deceived,  at  least,  in  this. 

Some  of  the  members  of  the  Cabinet  were  astute  enough  to 
see  that  the  President  desired  to  get  rid  of  them,  before  this 
time.  They  resolved,  at  all  hazards,  to  resign.  Every  senti 
ment  which  could  move  honorable  men  revolted  at  the  idea  of 
holding  a  confidential  relation  where  there  was  no  confidence. 
They  were  persuaded  by  friends  to  wait  a  little.  It  was  a  cur 
rent  opinion  at  that  day  that  the  Cabinet  ought  to  wait  to  be 
turned  out.  That  they  should  not  by  a  voluntary  act  abandon 
their  posts.  Many  thought  otherwise.  The  majority  of  the 


A    DEFENCE    OF    THE    WHIGS.  417 

Cabinet  themselves  thought  otherwise.  They  delayed  but  a 
few  days  after  that  letter  of  the  6th.  The  Veto  came  on  the 
9th,  and  the  pitiful  moan  for  farther  time  and  harmony. 

On  Saturday,  the  nth,  the  whole  Cabinet,  except  Mr. 
Webster,  resigned.  Not  because  John  Tyler  vetoed  a  bank, 
but  because  he  deceived  those  who  trusted  him. 

On  Monday  Mr.  Tyler  had  a  new  Cabinet  ready  at  his 
hand — the  very  men  the  Herald  had  announced,  almost  a 
month  before. 

What  astonishing  fertility  of  resource  !  exclaimed  the  flat 
terers  of  the  President.  What  wonderful  readiness  in  select 
ing  men  !  What  self-possession — what  promptitude — what  de 
cision  !  ejaculated  the  Madisonian.  A  new  Cabinet  in  twenty- 
four  hours  !  Napoleon  at  the  Bridge  of  Arcole  ! 


V. 

ASPIRATION    AND     INSPIRATION THE     MANIFESTO. 

The  conduct  of  Mr.  Tyler  would  seem  to  be  inexplicable 
by  any  rule  of  estimate  of  human  actions.  Such  laborious 
wandering  out  of  the  way,  such  intrepidity  of  indirection,  such 
an  "  extravagant  and  erring  spirit,"  such  unprofitable  perverse- 
ness,  how  shall  we  account  for  them  ? 

Very  conclusive  is  it  to  us  that  the  fancies  which  took  pos 
session  of  his  mind  were  not  the  ordinary  whimsies  which 
sometimes  beguile  weak  men  from  the  plain  career  of  duty — 
but  some  hallucination  rather,  that  found  peculiar  sustenance 
in  the  President's  temperament ;  that  fed  upon  that  Malvolio 
vanity  of  his,  and  derived  vigor  from  that  immoderate  intoxica 
tion  of  unexpected  power  which  had  shaken  the  balance  of  his 
judgment.  '-••-  •• 

To  speak  of  what  has  passed  as  "  weak,  vacillating  and 
faithless,"  is  almost  to  use  the  phrase  of  amiable  apology  : 
such  language  sounds  like  palliation  of  some  lamentable  mad 
ness,  which  the  kindness  of  friends  would  conceal  even  from 
themselves,  by  imputing  the  conduct  that  suggests  it,  to  some 
1 8* 


418  POLITICAL    I'.Vri-lRS. 

less  shocking  though  more  depraved  weakness  of  nature  or  in 
firmity  of  temper. 

There  were  two  letters  published  just  after  the  Extra  Ses 
sion,  which  may  throw  some  light  on  this  extraordinary  phe 
nomenon.  They  are  letters  from  members  of  the  House  of 
Representatives ;  friends  of  the  President, — one  of  them  a 
special  friend  ;  both  gentlemen  of  high  repute  ;  worthy  of  all 
belief ;  in  a  situation  to  know  ;  and  eminently  capable  of  in 
spiring  an  interest  in  what  they  say.  These  are  Mr.  Wise  and 
Mr.  Ingersoll.  The  first  gentleman  representing  what  was 
called  the  Guard,  consisting  of  six  members  of  Congress  dis 
tinguished  for  their  support  of  Mr.  Tyler  ;  the  second  a  prom 
inent  leader  of  the  Locofocos. 

Mr.  Ingersoll's  letter  is  remarkable  for  a  scrap  of  history 
which  it  supplies,  and  for  a  hint  of  the  source  of  the  Presi 
dent's  action  which  it  suggests.  Both  are  sufficiently  curious. 

"  Mr.  Tyler" — says  this  authority, — "  is  an  instrument  of 
overruling  Providence,  often  marvellously  snatching  this  Re 
public  from  apparent  jeopardy,  to  rescue  it  from  the  calamities 
of  -the  late  overwrought  extraordinary  session.  The  chapter 
of  strange  accidents  conducting  him  to  the  Chief  Magistracy, 
is  said  to  nerve  him  with  a  sort  of  religious  belief  that  he  is  des 
tined,  through  higher  power,  to  wonderful  instrumentality.  Un 
compromising  champion  of  the  radical  politics  of  the  Virginia 
Platform,  he  stood  erect  upon  it,  almost  alone,  environed  by  par 
ty  adherents  opposed  to  his  principles,  confronting  party  oppo 
nents  sympathizing  with  those  principles :  fearlessly  sustained 
by  a  small  sect  of  inflexible  politicians,  unjustly  stigmatized 
as  a  cabal  or  kitchen  cabinet,  counteracting  an  official  ministry 
without  the  President's  predilections,  if  not  their  antagonists ;  in 
fact,  the  cabinet  of  another,  most  of  whom  have  just  departed 
this  political  life  after  six  months  of  a  fitful  ephemeral  exist 
ence."* 

Mr.  Wise's  letter  contains  a  suggestion  of  the  same  import 
as  the  above.     Manifestly  this  idea  was  afloat  in  the  Presiden- 
*  This  letter  is  dated  Washing-ton,  Sept.  13,  1841. 


A   DEFENCE    OF   THE    WHIGS.  419 

tial  atmosphere.  Had  it  not  its  spell  ?  There  is  something 
very  notable  in  this  shadowing  of  high  influences  on  the  con 
duct  of  Mr.  Tyler. 

Mr.  Wise  seems  to  find  evidence  in  the  strange  elevation 
of  the  late  Vice-President,  of  something  more  than  ordinary 
human  vicissitude  :  almost  imputes  blasphemy  and  Atheism  to 
those  who  regard  it  as  an  ordinary  human  event,  or  believe  it 
to  have  come  from  less  than  a  special  interposition  of  Heaven. 

"  Providence  placed  in  power  a  Constitutional  Republican," 
says  Mr.  Wise.*  "  He  is  called  '  His  Accidency'  by  those 
who  could  not  make  a  President  by  design  ;  and  by  this  scoff 
ing  title  the  Dictatorship  seems  to  deny  a  Great  First  Cause 
whose  Providence  overrules  human  events  and  the  destiny  of 
nations,  and  to  ascribe  the  death  of  the  lamented  Harrison 
and  the  succession  of  the  second  choice  of  the  people  to  a 
blind  chance."  "This  is  not  the  first  time  that  the  stone  reject 
ed  of  the  builders  has  become  the  chief  of  the  corner •." 

I  shudder  when  I  read  these  words  and  think  of  the  com 
parison  to  which  they  point. — Could  such  an  idea  have  got 
possession  of  the  President's  imagination  ?  Then  as  to  the 
President's  friends — the  Guard  : — "  I  thought  that  the  Guard 
around  the  Constitution  might  be  less  than  a  Corporal's  in 
Congress,  but  I  knew  well  that  politicians  were  not  the  people, 
and  that  it  would  prove  a  host  of  freedom,  and  a  '  host  of  God' 
in  the  country." 

This  letter  ends  in  the  same  strain. 

"  The  true  sovereigns  are  true  to  themselves,  and  there  is 
an  Overruling  Providence  as  in  our  fathers'  days,  and  there 
will  be  forever,  to  protect  the  liberties  and  reanimate  the  hopes 
of  the  People  in  this  God-favored  land.  I  give  you,  then,  my 
cordial  congratulations,  one  and  all  ;  and,  as  a  perpetual  sen 
timent  for  all  Constitutional  Republicans,  I  reverentially  pro 
pose  to  you — God  and  the  People" 

I  will  make  no  comment  on  this  letter,  farther  than  to  ex 
press  my  hope  and  my -belief  that  it  was  the  inconsiderate  effu- 

*  Letter  to  Jolm  B.  Coles  and  others  Nov.  5,  1841. 


-'»  POLITICAL    PAPEKS. 

sion  of  a  heated  and  disturbed  period,  when  men's  minds  were 
too  much  agitated  by  passing  events  to  allow  the  due  measur 
ing  of  phrases.  This  much  I  say  for  the  sake  of  the  good-will 
I  bear  to  the  author,  who  is  commended  to  the  Whigs  by  the 
memory  of  many  valiant  blows  struck  in  their  cause  in  past 
days. — I  have  not  forgotten  them. 

These  letters  are  significant,  as  they  point  to  the  peculiar 
conceit,  which  may,  perhaps,  furnish  a  key  to  Mr.  Tyler's  ec 
centricities.  Mohammed  took  many  liberties  on  the  score  of 
his  divine  mission,  which  even  he,  doubtless,  would  have  re 
garded  as  very  unbecoming  extravagancies  in  a  mere  every-day 
caliph. — Caliph  Tyler  may  have  thought  his  freaks  altogether 
selon  les  regies,  upon  the  same  reckoning.  Nothing  short  of 
some  such  potent  influence  as  this,  may  satisfactorily  account 
for  the  strange  things  we  have  witnessed. 

The  result  of  this  career  of  the  President,  during  the  Ex 
tra  Session,  was  the  resignation  of  the  Cabinet,  as  we  have  be 
fore  said. 

I  do  not  speak  for  the  members  of  the  Cabinet ;  I  have  no 
warrant  from  any  gentleman,  at  that  day  connected  with  the 
administration,  for  what  I  say — but  I  speak  what  was  well- 
known  in  Washington  at  the  time,  that,  at  least,  as  regards  a 
portion  of  the  Cabinet,  the  resignation  was  reluctantly  delayed. 
It  was  delayed  in  deference  to  the  advice  of  those  who  still 
hoped  that  affairs  might  take  some  unforeseen  turn  favorable  to 
harmony.  They  resigned,  however,  at  last, — as  they  have  sta 
ted  in  their  own  published  letters,  wherein  they  have  given  a 
history  of  the  events  to  which  they  were  witnesses, — not  be 
cause  the  President  differed  from  them  on  the  question  of  a 
Bank.  They  threw  up  their  places  because  he  had  forfeited 
his  word,  treated  them  unworthily,  and  had  manifested  his 
hostility  to  the  principles  and  pledges  of  the  party  with  whom 
they  were  associated,  to  which  he  professed  to  belong,  and 
who  had  given  to  him  all  the  consideration  and  importance 
incident  to  his  station. 

It  is  wholly  untrue — grossly  and   signally  false — that  the 


A    DEFENCE    OF    THE    WHIGS.  421 

rupture  with  the  President  was  occasioned  by  umbrage  taken 
at  his  dissent  from  a  Bank. 

It  was,  in  no  degree,  to  be  assigned  to  that  simple  act. 
The  Whigs,  doubtless,  would  have  felt  greatly  chagrined  and 
mortified  at  the  use  of  the  Veto  on  such  a  subject.  They  had 
hoped,  in  the  election  of  General  Harrison  and  Mr.  Tyler,  that 
they  had  put  an  end  to  the  hazard  of  that  odious  exercise  of 
Presidential  prerogative,  which  had  become  doubly  odious  in 
General  Jackson's  hands.  They  would,  therefore,  naturally 
enough,  have  felt  some  annoyance  at  such  an  exhibition  of  this 
prerogative  by  an  administration  of  their  own  making.  They 
.would,  very  probably,  have  abated  much  of  their  respect  for 
the  judgment  and  capacity  of  Mr.  Tyler,  upon  the  promulga 
tion  of  a  doctrine  so  absurd  as  that  conceit  of  his  regarding 
the  Assent  of  States.  All  this  they  might  have  felt,  and  would 
certainly  have  greatly  deplored.  They  might  have  acknowl 
edged  they  had  mistaken  the  qualities  and  fitness  of  Mr.  Ty 
ler  for  his  post : — but  they  would  not  have  quarrelled  with  him  ; 
even  have  censured  him,  for  an  honest  exercise  of  a  conscien 
tious  conviction  of  duty — had  such  been  his  conviction. 

If  he  had  frankly  said  that,  on  this  point  of  the  Bank,  he 
felt  constrained  to  differ  : — if  he  had  manfully  told  those 
around  him,  and  who  had  an  interest  in  the  success  of  his  ad 
ministration,  what  he  could  not  do,  or  what  he  could  do  ;  and 
above  all  things  had  kept  his  word:  had  demeaned  himself  as 
an  upright,  sincere,  and  earnest  magistrate  in  his  high  place  ; 
had  not  treasured  up  against  himself  such  a  store  of  broken 
promises ;  had  not  so  trifled  with  the  capable  and  honorable  men 
around  him  ;  had  not  thrown  himself  into  such  suspicious  asso 
ciations  ;  had  not  so  vibrated  between  his  will  to  desert,  and 
his  fear  of  the  event ;  had  not  so  concealed  himself  from  those 
who  had  a  right  to  know  his  sentiments,  and  so  disclosed  him 
self  to  those  who  had  no  right  to  his  confidence — he  might 
have  put  his  Veto  upon  a  Bank — he  might  have  asked  and  ob 
tained  delay — he  might  have  disappointed  all  that  eager  hope 
which  prevailed  in  the  country  for  the  settlement  of  the  cur- 


POLITICAL    PAPKHS. 

rency — hope  that  he  had  himself  raised  in  his  Inaugural  Ad 
dress,  and  in  his  first  Message — and  yet  there  would  have  been 
no  rupture,  no  resignation,  no  repulse  of  the  President  by  the 
majority  of  Congress. 

Never  was  there  a  party  placed  in  such  a  difficulty  before, 
who  showed  so  earnest  a  spirit  of  toleration,  concession,  and 
surrender  of  personal  feeling,  as  the  Whigs  of  Congress  on 
this  occasion.  His  Bank,  as  it  came  from  the  Treasury,  was 
by  no  means  to  their  liking.  They  did  not  like  to  surrender 
the  broad  principles  of  placing  this  institution  wherever  they 
thought  the  public  interest  might  suggest ;  in  deference  to  the 
President,  they  agreed  to  the  District  of  Columbia.  The  ap-, 
plication  to  the  States  for  the  power  to  establish  branches, 
under  any  modification  of  it,  was  against  all  their  preconceived 
notions  of  Constitutional  right :  in  deference  to  the  President 
they  consented  to  the  compromise  :  were  even  willing  to  take 
the  bill  as  reported  by  Mr.  Ewing.  They  readily  and  cheer 
fully  concurred  with  the  President  in  his  plan  of  the  Exchange 
Bank,  even  to  the  frivolous  point  of  changing  the  name,  and 
hastened,  with  the  greatest  alacrity  to  pass  it,  when  they 
thought  it  would  meet  his  view.  They  carried  their  conces 
sion  to  the  utmost  verge  of  compliance  in  every  item  compat 
ible  with  the  one  great  purpose — the  chief  purpose  of  the 
session,  in  the  estimate  of  the  nation — the  arrangement  of  the 
momentous  question  of  the  Currency.  All  was  unavailing ; 
and  they  saw  all  fail  in  a  secret  intrigue  of  the  President  to 
break  up  the  Whig  organization,  and,  upon  its  ruins,  to  lift 
himself  to  the  Chief  Magistracy  for  a  second  term. 

Feeling  this  deeply,  sorrowing  over  the  event,  and  indig 
nant  at  the  unworthy  evasions  and  miserable  throes  of  a  self 
ish  ambition  which  they  had  detected,  they  could  not  but  dis 
avow  all  connection  with  him  and  his  fortunes.  They  met  to 
gether  in  the  last  moments  of  the  session — such  as  were  at 
the  seat  of  government,  for  many  had  set  out  for  their  homes 
— and  published  their  Manifesto,  by  which  they  proclaimed  to 
the  nation  that,  from  that  day  forth,  all  political  alliance  be- 


A    DEFENCE    OF    THE    WHIGS.  4:23 

tween  them  and  John  Tyler  was  at  an  end  :  that  from  that  day 
"  those  who  had  brought  the  President  into  power,  could  no 
longer,  in  any  manner  or  degree,  be  justly  held  responsible,  or 
blamed  for  the  administration  of  the  Executive  branch  of  the 
Government."  At  the  same  time  acknowledging  it  to  be  "  the 
duty  of  the  Whigs  in  and  out  of  Congress,  to  give  to  his  offi 
cial  acts  and  measures  fair  and  full  consideration,  approving 
them  and  co-operating  in  their  support,  where  they  could,  and 
differing  from,  and  opposing  any  of  them,  only  from  a  high 
sense  of  duty. 

There  were,  it  is  true,  a  few  Whigs  of  Congress,  who, 
although  concurring  in  the  sentiments  of  reprobation  of  the 
President,  felt  some  reluctance  against  joining  in  this  public 
proclamation.  The  large  majority,  however,  eagerly  adopted 
the  measure,  as  no  less  due  to  their  own  sense  of  responsibility 
to  the  country,  than  it  was  to  the  justification  and  support  of 
the  retiring  Cabinet. 

Subsequent  events  have  more  than  vindicated  the  truth,  the 
justice  and  the  policy  of  the  Manifesto. 

VI. 

THE    MANIFESTO. DANIEL    WEBSTER. 

The  Manifesto  was  a  plain,  direct  paper  that  spoke  right 
out,  stating  the  case  of  the  Whigs  fully  to  the  country.  It 
told  what  they  had  done  at  the  Extra  Session  :  what  they  had 
failed  to  do,  and  why.  It  disclosed  their  observation  of  the 
past  conduct  of  Mr.  Tyler,  and  their  apprehension  of  his  fu 
ture  ;  the  withdrawal  of  his  confidence  from  the  Whigs,  his  af 
finity  with  their  enemies  ;  and  it  announced  their  entire  separ 
ation  from  him.  It  proclaimed  the  principles  upon  which  the 
Whigs  would  continue,  as  in  past  times,  to  maintain  their  or 
ganization. — At  the  head  of  these  it  placed 

"  The  reduction  of  the  Executive  power,  by  a  further  limi 
tation  of  the  Veto,  so  as  to  secure  obedience  to  the  public  will, 
as  that  shall  be  expressed  by  the  immediate  Representatives 


4-2-Jr  POLITICAL    P  APK I  IS. 

of  the  People  and  the  States,  with  no  other  control  than  that 
which  is  indispensable  to  arrest  hasty  or  unconstitutional  Leg 
islation." 

Here  was  the  old  war  of  Privilege  and  Prerogative  revived 
by  the  Whigs,  against  a  Chief  Magistrate  whom  they  had  lifted 
into  Power!  Sad  and  bitter  fruit  of  the  indiscretion  of  1839, 
which  committed  so  just  a  cause  to  so  unfit  a  leader  !  Strong 
pledge  to  the  nation  of  the  sincere  and  faithful  attachment  of 
the  Whigs  to  the  great  principles  upon  which  they  were  origin 
ally  embodied  ! 

The  Veto  had  become  distinguished  in  a  previous  admin 
istration  for  its  power  of  mischief.  Mr.  Tyler  has  given  it  a 
new  character  ;  he  has  made  it  ridiculous. 

The  Manifesto  had  the  full  concurrence  and  actual  partici 
pation  of  from  sixty  to  eighty  Whig  members — being  nearly  all 
who  were  at  the  seat  of  Government  when  it  was  adopted. 
With  few  exceptions,  it  has  received  the  approbation  of  every 
Whig  member  of  the  Twenty-seventh  Congress. 

Whatever  doubts  may  have  been  felt  by  any  at  the  time  of 
its  promulgation,  as  to  the  expediency  of  making  it,  those  doubts 
quickly  vanished  before  the  rapidly-succeeding  developments 
of  the  Tyler  administration.  We  have  been  surfeited  with 
proofs  of  the  eminent  propriety  of  that  paper. 

The  only  doubt  which  influenced  any  member  on  this  sub 
ject,  at  the  date  of  the  Manifesto,  had  respect  to  the  position 
which  Mr.  Webster  occupied  in  the  Cabinet.  If  he  had  retired 
with  his  colleagues,  the  concurrence  in  the  Manifesto  would 
have  been  unanimous.  Whatever  modicum  of  strength  Mr. 
Tyler  retained  with  any  portion  of  the  Whig  party  in  the  Uni 
ted  States,  is  due  to  the  name  and  influence  of  Daniel  Webster. 

It  is  not  my  purpose  to  censure  the  Secretary  ;  even  to 
complain  of  what  he  thought  it  right  for  him  to  do  in  that  emer 
gency.  I  am  not  willing  to  renounce  a  Whig  whose  life  is  so 
crowned  with  noble  services  to  the  State  as  the  Great  Man  of 
Massachusetts.  But  I  could  wish  that  his  remaining  in  the 
Cabinet  had  been  accompanied  with  such  explanation  as  his 


A   DEFENCE    OF   THE    WIITftS.  425 

case  admitted  : — at  least,  that  it  had  been  accompanied  by  no 
censure  expressed  or  implied  against  his  compeers. 

There  were,  undoubtedly,  strong  public  motives  to  excuse, 
if  not  to  justify,  his  temporary  maintenance  of  his  post 

The  situation  of  the  country,  as  regards  our  relations  with 
England,  was  very  critical.  Mr.  Tyler,  and  those  who  were 
called  his  peculiar  friends,  had  adopted  a  tone  of  exasperation 
toward  England,  that  was  well  calculated  to  defeat  a  reasonable 
hope  of  amicable  arrangement  of  existing  difficulties  with  that 
nation.  The  debates  of  Congress,  on  the  part  of  these  friends, 
were  characterized  by  an  effort  to  create  an  artificial  sentiment 
of  hostility  against  that  power,  at  a  time  when,  from  the  real 
motives  to  a  quarrel,  great  judgment  and  discretion  were  req 
uisite  to  save  the  country  from  the  calamities  of  war.  It  was 
apparent  to  all  who  closely  observed  the  temper  of  the  Ex 
ecutive  and  his  allies,  that  Mr.  Tyler  counted  on  making 
popularity  by  a  war  ; — a  measure  at  all  times  capable  of  en 
listing  a  certain  amount  of  administration  support  in  the  coun 
try.  The  President  hoped  to  prop  his  sickly  acceptation 
with  the  people,  or, — to  speak  in  phrase  more  germain  to  his 
himself, — to  augment  his  already  boundless  influence,  by  a 
estimate  of  measure  which  should  flatter  the  glory-seek 
ing  spirit  of  the  nation  in  furnishing  it  an  occasion  for  martial 
broils. 

So  heady,  pernicious  and  reckless  a  temper  as  this,  very 
cogently  suggested  to  Mr.  Webster,  doubtless,  the  duty  of  not 
abandoning  his  watch.  The  incapacity  of  the  administration 
at  a  moment  so  critical ;— not  only  its  incapacity,  but  the  fatal 
ply  of  its  mind  toward  an  incalculable  mischief,  may  be  regard 
ed  as  presenting  a  patriotic  invocation  to  one  so  conscious  of 
his  power  as  the  Secretary,  to  stand  his  ground  and  save  his 
country  from  the  rash  folly  that  threatened  it. 

I  give  Mr.  Webster  full  credit  for  a  due  appreciation  of  this 
sentiment.  This  impression  soon  became  common ;  and  the 
Secretary,  it  may  be  said,  was  excused,  justified,  applauded 
even  for  the  sacrifice  of  personal  ease  he  was  supposed  to 


426  POLITICAL    PAPERS. 

make  in  holding  alliance  with  the  Tyler  Cabinet  until  the 
ratifications  of  the  Treaty  of  Washington  were  exchanged. 

In  view  of  this,  the  Whigs  were  reconciled  to  bear  the  loss 
they  had  sustained,  in  another  aspect,  from  Mr.  Webster's  re 
fusal  to  move  with  his  colleagues. 

At  this  point  my  vindication  stops.  Every  Whig  saw  with 
sorrow  that,  when  the  ratification  of  the  treaty  was  complete, 
Mr.  Webster  did  not  resign.  With  inexpressible  pain,  every 
Whig  in  the  land  read  or  heard  the  speech  in  Faneuil  Hall : 
saw  Mr.  Webster  go  back  contentedly  to  his  post :  witnessed 
his  consent  to  the  glorification  of  John  Tyler,  in  conceding  to 
him  the  honor  of  having  accomplished  that  happy  pacification 
of  two  great  powers  whose  collision  would  have  been  long  de 
plored  as  one  of  the  most  signal  misfortunes  in  the  history  of 
either.  Glory  to  John  Tyler  the  Pacificator  !  to  him  who  had 
stimulated  every  passion '  of  discontent  that  could  embarrass 
the  negotiation :  to  him  who  had  suffered  to  pass  without  re 
buke  the  conduct  of  the  minister  at  Paris,  in  attempting  to 
embroil  the  two  countries  through  a  most  unwarranted  in 
terference  in  the  settlement  of  the  Quintuple  Treaty — not 
only  to  pass  without  rebuke,  but  to  meet  his  approval :  to 
him  who  has  been  distinguished,  both  through  his  own  di 
rect  action,  and  through  the  officiousness  of  his  son,  encour 
aged  by  him,  for  an  undignified  intermeddling  in  the  domes 
tic  affairs  of  the  very  nation  whose  difficulties  he  presumes  to 
believe  he  settled  !  Glory  to  him  for  the  Treaty  of  Washing 
ton  !  And  that  Mr.  Webster  is  willing  to  certify  to  his  share 
of  the  glory  !  Mr.  Webster,  whose  chief  justification  for  re 
maining  in  the  Cabinet  was  that  he  might  counteract  and  dis 
arm  the  vanity  that  could  mar,  and  which,  in  no  contingen 
cy,  could  make  what  was  good  ! — Who  has  not  seen  this  with 
sorrow. 

If  the  Faneuil  Hall  speech  had  been  what  the  Whigs  of  the 
nation  hoped  it  would  be ;  what  those  who  invited  Mr. 
Webster  to  that  Hall  desired  it  might  be  ;  what  all  the  true 
friends  of  Mr.  Webster  thought  it  could  only  be — he  would 


A   DEFENCE    OF   THE    WHIGS.  427 

not  now  have  to  complain  that  his  attachment  to  the  Whig 
party  was  drawn  into  question. 

Still,  the  Whigs  will  pardon  much  to  Daniel  Webster: — 
more  than  to  most  other  men.  They  will  pardon  much  for 
the  sake  of  his  past  history :  a  history  full  of  glorious  remem 
brances  ;  redolent  with  the  odor  of  Constitutional  Liberty. 
They  will  not  easily  be  driven  to  forget  that,  in  the  weary  days 
of  their  adversity,  his  h'rm  foot  was  planted  upon  their  ram 
parts,  nor  withdrawn  as  long  as  danger  threatened :  that  in  the 
murky  night  when  the  enemy  was  creeping  toward  our  Citadel, 
he  stood  faithfully  upon  guard,  with  a  constancy  that  "out- 
watched  the  Bear  :"  that  in  the  assault  his  voice  of  exhortation 
rang  like  a  clarion  :  that  in  the  melee  his  stalwart  form  rode  on 
the  tide  of  battle  where  the  heaviest  blows  were  struck  ;  and 
whether  the  issue  were  defeat  or  victory  they  were  ever  accus 
tomed  to  find  him  at  hand  ready  to  console  or  applaud. 
While  such  recollections  cluster  around  his  name,  the  Whigs 
will  forgive  much  to  Cceur  de  Lion — forget  much. 

They  know  his  dogged,  moody  temper ;  his  intractable 
self-will ;  his  fretful  waywardness.  They  have  often  seen  these 
scowling  on  his  broad  brow,  and  flashing  in  the  awakened  fire 
of  his  eye  : — seen  them  often,  not  without  a  sigh.  But  they 
know  that  his  faults  are  not  the  faults  of  a  temper  which  deals 
in  dissimulation  or  meditates  over  schemes  of  treachery  :  the 
faults,  rather  of  a  mind  that  will  not  brook  delay,  which  has 
not  trained  itself  to  patience,  which  thinks  of  its  hopes  "  not 
wisely,  but  too  well." 

They  will  yet  pardon  much  to  Daniel  Webster. 

VII. 

JUSTICE  TO  JOHN  TYLER. 

From  the  date  of  the  Manifesto  we  have  but  little  concern 
to  speak  of  Mr.  Tyler.  His  career,  from  that  period,  has  been 
a  persevering  retrograde  upon  the  path  of  his  duty.  It  is 
marked  by  flagrant  dereliction  of  faith  to  his  formerly  pro- 


428  POLITICAL    PAPERS. 

fessed  principles,  and  by  successive  compliances  lo  an  enemy 
whom  no  excess  of  infidelity  has  yet  been  able  to  win. 

He  who  dwelt  in  such  pitiful  accents,  in  his  last  Veto 
Message,  upon  the  cordiality  with  which  he  had  sanctioned  all 
the  Whig  measures  but  one,  has  systematically  devoted  him 
self,  ever  since  the  close  of  the  Extra  Session,  to  the  wretched 
endeavor  of  breaking  up  the  party  who  made  him  what  he  is, 
and  of  conciliating  those  who  opposed  his  election,  by  the  sur 
render  of  those  measures,  and  with  them  of  every  pledge  upon 
which  he  came  into  power. 

His  friends,  with  his  concurrence,  at  the  next  session  of 
Congress,  presented  in  his  behalf  two  schemes  for  regulating 
the  currency.  The  one  was  a  National  Bank,  to  be  solely 
owned  and  conducted  by  the  Government ;  the  other  was  the 
exploded  Sub-Treasury  system.  He  who  had  shown  such 
sensitive  constitutional  scruple  against  a  Bank  which,  for  forty 
years,  had  received  the  sanction  of  every  authority  in  this  gov 
ernment,  suddenly,  in  the  depths  of  his  perplexity,  became  the 
patron  of  the  only  true  "Monster  this  nation  has  ever  seen — a 
Bank  of  Exchange,  a  Bank  of  Discount,  a  Banker  se,  belong 
ing  alone  to  the  Government,  without  the  vestige  of  a  pretext 
of  its  being  either  "  necessary  or  proper." — A  scheme  which 
could  not  gain  one  poor  vote  in  either  House  to  do  it  honor. 
He  who  had  been  so  emphatic  in  denouncing  the  Sub-Treas 
ury,  suddenly,  in  the  depths  of  his  perplexity,  was  willing  that 
his  friends  should  stake  his  hopes  upon  this  same  measure  dis 
guised  with  a  few  extra  faculties  of  dealing  in  exchange.  And 
between  these  projects,  wide  as  the  poles  asunder,  lying  on 
the  extremest  verge  of  the  circle  of  ultra  political  opinions, 
the  President  vibrated  like  a  pendulum,  driven  by  opposing 
hands,  as  if  in  sport  to  show  how  light  a  touch  could  sway  the 
motions  of  such  a  toy. 

He  who  had  made  the  Distribution  of  the  proceeds  of  the 
public  lands  a  cardinal  measure  in  his  Message ; — who  was 
even  willing  to  bind  them  up  in  a  Bank  capital  •  who  had  wit 
nessed,  at  the  Extra  Session,  the  unrrippy  restriction,  which 


A   DEFENCE    OF    THE    WHIGS.  429 

necessity  compelled  the  Whigs  to  submit  to,  in  the  limitation 
put  upon  that  distribution  by  the  Anti-Tariff  party, — witnessed 
it,  we  must  suppose,  with  regret,  if  his  professions  in  favor  of 
the  distribution  were  to  be  believed — now,  at  the  second  ses 
sion,  applied  his  veto  to  prevent  the  repeal  of  the  restriction.* 

He  who  had  professed  to  be  friendly  to  a  Protective  Tariff, 
now  refused  his  assent  to  a  bill  which  was  designed  merely  to 
continue  the  existing  duties  for  one  month,  in  order  that  time 
might  be  obtained  to  mature  a  permanent  bill  upon  the  sub 
ject  :  this  for  no  better  motive,  that  we  can  ascribe  to  it,  than 
to  furnish  a  proof  of  his  complacency  to  a  party  who  have 
shown  as  little  respect  for  him  as  they  have  shown  of  favor  to 
the  Tariff  or  the  Distribution. 

He  who  had  so  ostentatiously  inveighed  against  the  cor 
rupt  use  of  Executive  Patronage  ;  who  had  uttered  such  an 
emphatic  censure  against  the  sin  of  office-holders  inter- 

*  The  purport  of  the  restriction  introduced  into  the  land  Bill  was 
that  the  distribution  should  not  take  effect  if  the  duties  were  raised 
above  twenty  per  cent.  This  limitation  was  forced  upon  the  bill  by 
its  enemies,  aided  by  the  vote  of  a  few  Southern  Whigs  opposed  to 
the  Tariff.  The  bill  was  taken,  with  this  restriction,  by  the  Whigs 
at  large,  rather  than  lose  it ;  with  a  determination,  on  their  part,  ex 
pressed  in  debate,  to  repeal  the  limitation  whenever  they  had  the 
power.  The  argument  was  that  the  same  vote  which  could  raise 
the  Tariff  above  twenty  per  cent.,  would  be  sufficient  to  repeal  the  re 
striction.  It  was  regarded  as  a  device  of  the  enemy,  and  submitted 
to  only  under  the  compulsion  of  circumstances.  Mr.  Tyler,  who  had 
recommended  the  Distribution  as  an  act  of  Justice  to  the  States,  for 
whom,  he  affirmed,  the  Government  was  but  a  Trustee  ( see  his  Mes 
sage,  June,  1841 ),  had  originally  as  little  expectation  of  the  restric 
tion,  and,  before  his  desertion,  would  have  had  as  little  relish  for  it, 
as  any  Whig  in  Congress.  After  his  desertion,  he  recommended  the 
Repeal  of  the  Distribution,  March  25,  1842,  upon  the  ground  that 
when  he  prepared  his  Message  for  the  Extra  Session,  he  urged  the 
Distribution  in  mew  of  an  anticipated  Surplus  Revenue! — A  Surplus 
Revenue  anticipated  in  June,  1841  ! — In  fact,  one  of  the  arguments  of 
his  Message  was  that  the  Distribution  would  be  a  saving  to  the  Gov 
ernment  to  the  full  amount,  in  relieving  it  from  sundry  "  appropria 
tions  to  domestic  objects." 


430  POLITICAL    PAPERS. 

meddling  in  the  political  field ;  who  had  even  enacted  the 
farce  of  issuing  a  special  circular  of  warning,  from  the  State 
department,  against  all  offenders  in  such  wise  ;  who  had  in 
voked  Congress  to  take  this  matter  in  hand  and  put  some 
qualification  on  the  removal  of  officers* — he  it  was  who  sub 
sequently  drove  Jonathan  Roberts  from  the  collectorship  of 
Philadelphia,  because  he  would  not  remove  some  twenty 
or  more  of  the  subordinates  in  the  Custom  House  under  his 
charge,  for  no  better  reason  than  that  they  were  suspected  of 
being  Whigs,  and  place  in  their  stations  as  many  supple 
minions  of  the  Executive.  In  following  up  the  same  corrupt 
purpose,  he  removed  Gen.  Van  Rensselaer  from  the  Post  Office 
at  Albany,  and,  subsequently,  many  of  the  most  approved, 
effective  and  honorable  officers  of  the  Government  from  sta 
tions  of  high  trust,  to  make  way  for  that  wretched  crew  of  par 
asites  who  render  to  his  vanity  a  coarse  and  acceptable  flattery, 
by  their  assiduous  conversancy  with  all  the  low  schemes  of 
political  traffic  which  may  sustain  the  absurd  hope  he  ven 
tures  to  indulge  of  a  second  term. 

I  pass  by  the  countless  freaks  which  his  inane  ambition, 
in  other  ways,  has  encouraged  him  to  practice  upon  the  for- 

*  The  following  passage  occurs  in  liis  Message  of  December,  1842 
— "  I  feel  it  my  duty  to  bring  under  your  consideration  a  practice 
which  has  grown  up  in  the  administration  of  the  Government,  and 
which  I  am  deeply  convinced  ought  to  be  corrected.  I  allude  to  the 
exercise  of  the  power  which  usage,  rather  than  reason,  has  invested 
in  the  President  of  removing  incumbents  from  office  in  order  to  sub 
stitute  others  more  in  favor  with  the  dominant  party,  My  own  con 
duct,  in  this  respect,  has  been  governed  by  a  conscientious  purpose 
to  exercise  the  removing  power  only  in  cases  of  unfaithfulness  or  in 
ability,  or  in  those  in  which  its  exercise  appeared  necessary,  in  order 
to  discountenance  and  suppress  that  spirit  of  active  partisanship  on 
the  part  of  holders  of  office,  which  not  only  withdraws  them  from  the 
steady  and  impartial  discharge  of  their  official  duties,  but  exerts  an 
undue  and  injurious  influence  over  elections  and  degrades  the  char 
acter  of  the  Government  itself,  inasmuch  as  it  exhibits  the  Chief 
Magistrate  as  using  a  party,  through  his  agents,  to  the  secret  plots 
or  open  workings  of  political  parties." 


A    DEFENCE    OF    THE    WHIGS.  431 

bearance  of  the  nation  :  his  seditious  attempt  to  foment  discord 
by  the  extraordinary  and  unconstitutional  measure  of  recording, 
in  the  State  Department,  his  objections  to  the  single  district 
clauses  of  the  Apportionment  Bill, — the  wisest  and  most  equi 
table  enactments  of  the  Twenty-seventh  Congress  :  his  Protest 
against  the  Proceedings  of  the  House  of  Representatives  on  his 
Veto  of  the  Tariff  Bill :  his  refusal  to  impart  information  in  ref 
erence  to  the  Cherokee  frauds,  upon  the  requisition  of  Con 
gress  ; — I  pass  these  and  other  caprices  not  less  conspicuous, 
and  consign  them,  without  comment,  to  that  judgment  which 
they  have  received  from  all  intelligent  men.  My  purpose  is 
not  to  follow  Mr.  Tyler  beyond  the  confines  of  those  delinquen 
cies  which  have  prevented  the  Whig  party  from  redeeming  the 
promises  of  1840.  I  have  no  desire  to  pursue  him  in  that  de 
vious  flight  which  carried  him  at  last  to  the  bosom  of  his  old 
adversaries, — and  from  which  he  has  been  buffeted  away,  with 
the  contumely  that  ever  awaits  a  leader  in  command  who  is  in 
sensible  to  the  peculiar  disgrace  of  deserting  his  colors  in  the 
moment  of  trial. 

There  is  poetical  justice  in  his  fate.  He  has  fallen  the  vic 
tim  to  his  own  easy  virtue.  They  who  first  seduced  him  have 
affected  to  cast  him  off,  as  tainted,  spoiled  of  name  and  fame 
— alas  ! — 

"  Too  soon  made  liappy  and  too  late  made  wise  !  " 

He  now  remains  an  object  not  less  avoided  by  many  friends 
he  has  deceived,  than  by  the  enemies  upon  whom  he  fawned. 
Not  even  his  preposterous  imaginations  of  power  and  influence 
— "  of  popularity  second  only  to  that  of  Washington,"  as  his 
flatterers  were  wont  to  say — not  even  these  supply  him  now 
with  one  residuary  hope  or  topic  of  consolation.  The  fly  upon 
the  wheel,  that,  but  yesterday,  deemed  its  swift  revolution  the 
product  of  his  impulse,  finds  to-day  his  utter  want  of  weight  to 
turn  it.  He  who  was  but  lately  the  Merry  Andrew  of  the  farce, 
and  took  to  himself  all  the  applause  which  other  actors  on  the 
stage  had  won  ;  who  was  so  practiced  in  harlequinade  and  found 


432  POLITICAL    PAPERS. 

v 

so  much  to  exalt  his  self  esteem  in  the  rapidity,  if  not  the  dex 
terity  of  his  changes, — he  has  come  to  the  conviction  how  lam 
entably  forlorn  a  puppet  President  may  be,  whose  demerits  are 
unvarnished  with  the  skill  to  render  Official  Power  respectable 
even  to  that  small  troop  who  feed  upon  its  favors.  The  office 
holders  themselves  are  deserting  him  !  That  conscience, 
which  was  the  first  instrument  of  his  jugglery,  now  haunts  him 
like  a  fiend  upon  his  path :  he  can  advance  to  no  friendly  shel 
ter,  and  yet  he  dares  not  turn  back,  or  look  behind : 

"  Like  one  who  on  a  lonesome  road 
Doth  walk  in  fear  and  dread, 
And  having  once  turned  round — walks  on 
And  turns  no  more  his  head, 
Because  he  knows  a  frightful  fiend 
Doth  close  behind  him  tread." 

I  should  not  have  dwelt  so  much  upon  the  topics  presented 
in  the  history  of  that  brief  interval  between  the  accession  of  Mr. 
Tyler  to  the  Presidency  and  the  date  of  the  Manifesto,  if  it  were 
not  that  this  history  became  important  in  answer  to  the  question 
— Why  have  the  Whigs  failed  to  perform  all  their  promises  ? 
why  have  they  not  rescued  the  country  from  the  tyranny  of  the 
Veto  ?  why  not  secured  the  Legislative  Privilege  against  the 
encroachment  of  Executive  Prerogative  ?  why  not  established 
the  single  term ;  restrained  the  corrupt  use  of  Patronage ;  settled 
the  question  of  the  Currency ;  distributed  the  proceeds  of  the 
Public  Lands  ? 

These  questions  are  answered  in  the  review  I  have  given. 
But  for  them  the  administration  of  Mr.  Tyler  might  have  been 
passed  over  as  a  blank — as  a  Parenthesis, — to  use  the  phrase 
of  a  speaker  in  the  House.  It  has  no  significance  in  the  na 
tion.  It  furnishes  no  precedent :  it  will  never  be  remembered 
as  an  example.  It  is  the  holyday  of  the  Abbot  of  Unreason 
with  its  thousand  follies, — its  mummeries  and  morrice-dances. 
We  shall  never  have  the  like,  of  it  again. 

After  all,  it  is  not  without  instruction.  We  require  a  bea 
con  to  show  us  what  to  shun,  as  well  as  a  guide  to  teach  us 


A    DEFENCE    OF    THE    WHIGS.  4:33 

what  to  pursue.  In  this  point  of  view,  Mr.  Tyler's  adminis 
tration  will  have  a  place  in  history.  It  will  teach  the  people 
never  again  to  neglect  the  question  of  the  Vice-Presidency. 
It  may  even  warn  them  against  placing  incompetent  men  in 
any  public  station.  If  it  does  so,  then  the  administration  of 
Mr.  Tyler  may  be  considered  a  benefaction.  Thus  we  find  a 
moral  in  so  great  an  evil  as  this. 

His  few  partisans  in  the  nation  are  clamorous  in  demand 
ing  Justice  to  John  Tyler.  Justice,  assuredly,  he  will  obtain 
from  the  pen  of  History. 

It  will  represent  him  as  a  President  accidentally  brought 
into  power,  who,  while  the  sudden  honors  of  his  station  were 
yet  new,  manifested  a  heart  full  of  gratitude  to  his  friends,  and 
replete  with  good  resolutions  to  serve  the  great  public  inter 
ests  which  had  combined  to  place  him  where  he  was.  It  will 
describe  him  as  vainglorious,  weak  and  accessible  to  any  ex 
travagance  of  flattery ;  of  a  jealousy  quickly  provoked  by  the 
ascendancy  of  superior  minds,  and  nervously  sensitive  against 
the  suspicion  of  being  under  their  influence.  That,  from  the 
fear  of  such  an  imputation,  he  had  thrown  himself  into  evil 
associations,  and  surrounded  himself  with  private,  irresponsi 
ble  counsellors,  who,  neither  by  station  or  capacity,  were  en 
titled  to  give  him  advice,  and  who  fatally  drove  him  into  an 
open  rupture  with  those  whom  it  should  have  been  his  pride 
to  call  friends. 

Variable  and  infirm  of  purpose,  he  will  be  exhibited  as 
ever  halting  between  opposite  opinions.  Anxious  to  impress 
the  world  with  a  reputation  for  inflexibility,  he  will  be  shown 
to  be,  in  fact,  without  a  judgment  of  his  own,  and  resolute 
only  in  avoiding  that  obvious  road,  which,  with  least  embar 
rassment  to  himself,  and  least  difficulty  in  the  selection,  it  was 
his  plainest  duty  to  pursue.  It  will  be  truly  said  of  him 
that  it  cost  him  more  trouble  to  find  the  wrong  way,  than  ordina 
rily  perplexes  other  men  to  discern  the  right.  That,  in  seeking 
excuses  to  differ  from  his  friends,  and  gratify  his  enemies,  he 
was  perpetually  shifting  from  one  awkward  and  difficult  de- 
19 


434:'  POLITICAL    TAPERS. 

vice  to  another,  without  the  least  attention  even  to  the  appear 
ance  of  consistency,  until  he  succeeded,  at  length,  in  aliena 
ting  from  his  society,  every  man  whose  support  he  should  have 
desired  ;  at  the  same  time  embittering  the  separation  with  an 
unhappy  distrust  of  his  fidelity  to  those  principles  to  which 
he  was  bound  by  plighted  honor.  That  while  he  was  ever 
changing  his  ground,  conceding,  retracting,  affirming,  denying, 
his  concessions  were  made  without  sincerity,  his  retractions 
without  excuse,  and  his  conduct  in  all,  distinguished  for  its 
want  of  dignity.  That,  with  a  fair,  though  moderate  reputa 
tion  for  capacity,  before  he  came  to  the  Presidency,  he  lost 
this  in  the  first  few  months  of  his  service ;  disappointed  the 
hopes  of  his  friends  ;  raised  his  enemies  from  the  despondency 
of  recent  defeat,  into  the  highest  tones  of  exultation,  and  dif 
fused  through  all  ranks  of  the  community  an  opinion  of  his 
want  of  fitness  for  the  high  station  to  which  he  had  been  call 
ed.  That  emphatically  the  accident  of  an  accident,  without 
popularity,  without  a  mind  to  conceive,  or  a  heart  to  execute 
great  undertakings  he  had  chosen  a  position  of  intense  respon 
sibility  and  universal  observation,  and  committed  himself  to 
a  hazard,  which  even  the  wisest  and  boldest  might  contem 
plate  with  apprehension. 

I  do  not  say  he  has  intentionally  done  all  the  mischief 
which  has  resulted  from  his  course.  I  am  not  willing  to  im 
pute  to  him  such  depravity.  He  is  said  to  be,  in  private  life, 
amiable,  hospitable  and  courteous  ;  but  he  is  not  the  first  man 
known  to  history  who  has  presented  the  anomaly  of  blameless 
private  life,  exhibiting  on  the  stage  of  public  affairs,  a  want 
of  political  integrity.  Perhaps  he  may  be  relieved  from  some 
of  the  imputed  excess  of  this  delinqency,  by  ascribing  his  er 
rors  somewhat  to  a  want  of  judgment,  to  an  exorbitant  vanity, 
and  to  the  influence  of  bad  advice  :  That  he  lacked  the  qual 
ity  of  attaching  to  him  such  friends  as  were  indispensable  to 
his  position,  and  therefore,  had  none  of  that  kind.  It  is  the 
calamity  of  high  place,  that  it  stands  most  in  need  of  that 
counsel  which  it  is  most  apt  to  repel. 


A    DEFENCE    OF   THE    WHIGS-  435 

We  may  say  of  this  President  what  Milton  has  said  of  an 
other  unhappy  ruler,  whose  melancholy  fate  furnishes  the  most 
awful  example  on  record  of  the  danger  in  a  Chief  Magistrate 
violating  his  promises  to  the  people, — "  that,  for  the  most  part, 
he  followed  the  worser  counsels,  and  almost  always,  of  the 
worser  men." 

I  do  not  profess  to  know  who  were  his  advisers.  I  only 
know  that  those  whom  public  duty  had  placed  around  him,  and 
who  were  eminently  worthy  of  all  trust,  did  not  enjoy  his  con 
fidence.  While  the  press  was  full  of  annunciations,  in  ad 
vance,  of  his  intentions,  his  Cabinet  was  generally  ignorant  of 
his  views,  or  remarkably  deceived  in  regard  to  them,  on  the 
greatest  measure  brought  to  the  notice  of  his  administration. 

In  the  vain  hope,  it  is  believed,  of  raising  up  a  third  party, 
he  came  in  direct  collision  with  a  majority  of  the  nation  ;  and, 
by  his  conduct,  heightened  the  common  feeling  of  disappoint 
ment  into  the  stronger  emotion  of  indignation,  provoked,  in 
those  who  elected  him,  by  a  doubt  which  every  one  felt  it  pain 
ful  to  utter.  The  result  was  that  irrevocable  renunciation  of 
him  proclaimed  in  The  Manifesto. 

VIII. 

THE   TWENTY-SEVENTH    CONGRESS. 

During  the  Extra  Session, — until  that  period  when  it  be 
came  the  President's  cue  in  the  play  he  had  proposed  to  him 
self,  to  break  with  the  Whigs, — the  administration  organ  was 
full  of  commendation  of  the  activity  with  which  Congress  was 
answering  the  expectations  of  the  country.  * 

At  the  next  session,  a  different  game  was  found  necessary. 
A  systematic  and  incessant  vituperation  of  the  proceedings  of 
Congress,  became  a  conspicuous  device  in  the  tactics  of  the 
Administration.  The  Legislature  was  daily  assailed  with 
every  species  of  slander.  No  effort  was  spared  to  lessen  it  in 
the  esteem  of  the  nation.  Detraction  and  falsehood  did  their 


*  "  The  House  of  Representatives  is  nobly  responding  to  the  pop- 
•ular  voice." — Madisonicui,  July  22,  1841. 


4:36  POLITICAL    PAPEKS. 

worst  to  spread  abroad  an  opinion  'that  the  majority  of  the 
Representatives  of  the  people  were  faithless  to  their  duty,  be 
cause  they  could  not  receive  their  lesson  from  the  Executive  ; 
— because  they  could  not  obey  the  dictation  of  a  power  that 
had  already  abandoned  its  trust,  and  forfeited  all  claim  to  their 
confidence.  They  were  charged  with  a  factious  spirit,  when 
they  stood  firm  .in  their  endeavor  to  redeem  the  pledges  they 
had  given  to  the  nation  ;  and  were  aspersed  *,vith  the  accusa 
tion  of  being  engaged  in  "  President-making,"  when  they  re 
fused  to  co-operate  in  the  absurd  and  frivolous  scheme  of 
glorifying  John  Tyler,  with  a  view  to  a  second  term.  For 
this  contumacy,  war  was  waged  against  the  majority  of  botii 
Houses,  by  the  Executive  and  his  allies. 

The  most  preposterous  and  odious  claims  of  Presidential 
prerogative, — such  as  the  country  had  witnessed  in  the  worst 
days  of  the  Jackson  administration — were  revived  ;  new  claims, 
even,  added.  The  Legislature  was  assailed  directly  by  the 
President  himself,  as  trifling  with  the  public  welfare,  and  mis 
spending  its  time  over  "petty  schemes  of  hatred  or  ambi 
tion,"  instead  of  devoting  it  to  "  measures  designed  for  gen 
eral  relief."1* 

The  reproof  of  Congress,  thus  beginning  with  the  Presi 
dent,  was  echoed  from  every  servile  press  in  his  interest.  It 
was  repeated  by  every  obsequious  flatterer  who  had  a  motive 
to  prove  his  fealty  to  the  dispenser  of  Government  patronage. 
It  became  the  theme  of  the  thousand  daily  tirades  by  which 
the  minions  of  the  Executive  throughout  the  land,  lent  their 
assistance  to  degrade  the  Representative  body  in  the  view  of 
the  people,  and,  in  its  degradation,  to  assail  the  representative 
principle  itself.  This,  because  the  majority  of  Congress  could 
not  agree,  to  receive  their  bills  from  the  hand  of  the  President, 
— their  opinions  from  his  suggestion  ! 

The  President,  indeed,  in  no  ambiguous  terms,  asserted 
the  right  to  initiate  acts  of  Legislation,  and  assumed  to  rebuke 
Congress  for  disregarding  his  recommendations  ;  made  a  dis- 

*  Letter  of  John  Tyler  to  Joseph  Graham,  June  4,  1842. 


A    DEFENCE    OF   THE    WHIGS.  437 

play  of  what  he  had  promulgated  as  his  views, — what  he  would 
assent  to  and  what  he  would  not ;  and  claimed,  in  emphatic 
language,  to  be  an  integral,  co-ordinate  branch  of  the  Legisla 
ture,  affirming  that  the  Constitution  had  given  him,  "  for  wise 
purposes,  an  active  agency  in  all  Legislation."* 

I  have  no  purpose  to  say  more  than  I  have  already  said 
on  the  right  of  a  President  of  the  United  States  to  control  the 
action  of  the  law-making  power  ;  nor  to  comment  upon  either 
the  propriety  or  the  dignity  of  his  animadversions  in  private 
letters,  prepared  for  publication, — or  in  any  other  manner,  of 
ficial  or  unofficial, — against  the  members  of  the  Legislative 
body  for  what  transpires  in  the  Legislative  Halls.  Much  less 
am  I  inclined  to  expatiate  upon  that  claim  which  purports  to 
make  him  a  part  of  the  Legislature,  and  to  confer  upon  him 
the  right  to  "  an  active  agency"  in  its  proceedings.  These 
claims,  after  the  signal  denunciation  which  they  have  received 
from  the  master  minds  of  the  nation  ;  after  the  stern  judg 
ment  pronounced  against  them  by  the  people  ;  after  the  con 
tempt  with  which  they  have  been  treated  by  Congress,  need  no 
farther  sentence  of  condemnation.  I  dismiss  them  with  the 
remark  that  they  are  utterly  repugnant  to  all  Whig  doctrine,  at 
least :  abhorrent  to  all  Whig  practice  :  renounced  and  repelled 
as  assumptions  hostile  not  only  to  the  principles  of  our  gov 
ernment,  but  of  all  free  representative  government.  They 
cannot  subsist  with  the  notion  of  an  independent  Legislature  ; 
are  incompatible  with  the  spirit  of  that  elemental  principle  of 
Parliamentary  Privilege  which  secures  every  representative 
from  being  questioned  for  what  is  uttered  in  debate.  They 
are  made  in  the  tone  and  the  temper  of  those  pretensions  of 
the  Stuarts  in  English  history,  which  brought  about  that  fa 
mous  recalcitration  of  the  patriots  of  England  who  first  de 
fined  and  established  the  Liberty  of  Parliament,  originated  the 
Whig  party,  and  won  the  triumph  of  1688. 

The  old  political  adversaries  of  the  Whigs,  finding  in  these 

*  See  liis  letter  to  Messrs.  Harris  and  others  of  Philadelphia,  July 
2,  1842. 


JMUTFCAL    J'AI'KK?. 

clamors  against  Congress,  something  that  might  be  turned  to 
account  for  themselves,  joined  in  the  scheme  of  vituperation  ; 
did  all  in  their  power  to  embarrass  the  proceedings  of  the  ma 
jority,  to  foment  the  President's  quarrel,  to  stimulate  his  vani 
ty  toward  new  aggressions,  and  to  spread  complaint  among 
the  people.  They,  the  pretended  Democracy  of  the  nation, 
faithful  to  their  original  instincts,  were  busy  to  second  and  en 
courage  the  laudable  design  of  the  Executive  in  trenching 
upon  and  denouncing  the  popular  Privilege  as  it  existed  in 
the  independence  of  the  Legislature.  Truly,  they  were  again 
on  their  old  track  ! 

Many  good  persons,  at  last,  were  brought  to  believe  that 
Congress  was  actually  chargeable  with  the  sins  which  its  origi 
nal  calumniator  had  laid  at  its  door.  This  pertinacity  of 
ceaseless  imputation,  which  in  general  seldom  fails  to  secure 
some  degree  of  credence  to  any  calumny,  wrought  upon  the 
belief  of  many  credulous  minds  who  were  not  naturally  un 
friendly  to  the  Whigs.  The  whole  responsibility  for  whatever 
was  charged  against  Congress,  of  course,  fell  upon  the  major 
ity.  The  minority,  by  joining  in  the  aspersion,  went  scot  free 
— not  only  scot  free,  but  found  it  a  weapon  to  wound  their  ad 
versaries.  They  played  their  part  with  great  dexterity  on  the 
floor  of  Congress  ;  uttered  many  pitiful,  sanctimonious  excla 
mations  of  horror  at  the  sin  of  wasting  the  precious  time,  and 
still  more  precious  money  of  the  people,  in  the  unpardonable 
enterprise  of  President-making, — in  the  shocking  neglect  of 
Presidential  advice, — in  the  contumacious  censure  of  Execu 
tive  usurpation  !  They  affected  to  find  another  topic  of  invec 
tive  in  the  rules  which  the  majority  had  adopted  for  the  des 
patch  of  business  ;  rules  without  which,  amid  these  ceaseless 
efforts  to  impede  the  course  of  legislation,  the  majority  could 
have  done  nothing.  That  golden  "  hour  rule"  especially, — the 
greatest  improvement  of  our  clay,  almost  the  essential  condi 
tion  upon  which  a  numerous  House  of  Representatives  is  ren 
dered  a  practical  body — was  denounced  with  singular  viru 
lence  and  spleen,  as  a  gag  upon  the  constitutional  freedom  of 


A    DEFENCE    OF    THE    WTTTOS.  439 

debate.  The  people  were  said  to  be  deprived  of  grave,  fun 
damental  rights,  because  the  "  weak,  washy,  everlasting  flood" 
of  parliamentary  egotism  was  pent  up  within  the  confines 
which  good  sense,  for  the  most  part,  voluntarily  prescribes  to 
itself.  It  is  pleasant  to  perceive  that,  notwithstanding  all  the 
exaggerations  which  party  eloquence  has  indulged  against  this 
rule,  the  country  has  failed  to  be  convinced  that  the  restraint 
it  has  placed  upon  the  vice  of  overtalking  in  Congress  is  not 
founded  upon  a  wise  experience.  The  querulous  declamation 
of  its  opponents  has  found  no  sympathetic  answer  among  the 
people  ;  and  we  may  venture  to  foretell  that  this  u  hour  rule," 
of  the  Twenty-seventh  Congress  will  be  preserved  as  long  as 
the  prurient  appetite  of  inane  discourse  shall  be  reckoned 
among  the  maladies  of  our  Logocracy :  it  will  be  valued  for 
the  equal  rights  which  it  confers  upon  the  effective  business 
man  of  Congress  and  the  importunate  and  active  babbler 
who  finds  enjoyment  in  listening  to  the  incessant  cataract  of 
his  own  voice. 

Notwithstanding  all  that  was  said,  and  at  one  time  partially 
believed,  to  the  detriment  of  the  Twenty-seventh  Congress,  it 
is  singularly  true,  that,  from  the  commencement  of  the  Gov 
ernment  to  the  present  day,  there  has  never  been  assembled  a 
National  Legislature  whose  assiduity,  within  the  appropriate 
range  of  its  business,  has  been  entitled  to  higher  praise  ;  none 
which  has  wrought  more  effectively  ;  done  so  much.  In  the 
face  of  every  impediment  which  a  hostile  Executive  and  a  tal 
ented,  mischief-making  opposition  could  throw  in  its  way,  it 
has  accomplished  great  and  permanent  good  to  the  country. 
It  came  to  its  task  at  a  period  when  the  public  affairs  were  in 
a  state  of  unexampled  adversity — shattered  and  disjointed  by  a 
long  system  of  improvidence  :  it  found  not  only  an  empty 
treasury,  but  the  sources  of  revenue  shut  up  ;  and  a  determined 
and  fierce  spirit  of  opposition  arrayed  against  any  attempt  to 
open  them  ;  it  found  the  people  laboring  under  the  pressure 
of  an  almost  universal  bankruptcy  ;  it  found  peculation  and 
abuse  in  every  department  of  public  administration ;  it  found 


440  POLITICAL    PAPERS. 

the  results  of  a  thriftless  prodigality  in  a  heavy  national  debt, 
disguised  and  aggravated  by  issues  of  irredeemable  govern 
ment  paper.  Even  under  the  most  auspicious  circumstances 
of  harmonious  co-operation  from  an  able  and  faithful  Exec 
utive,  with  every  thing  from  that  source  to  aid  and  nothing  to 
embarrass,  the  difficulties  of  its  position  would  have  been  such 
as  the  steadiest  nerve  and  most  skilful  experience  might  have 
shrunk  from  without  disgrace  ;  but  the  darkness  of  its  hour 
was  increased  by  that  extraordinary  mischance  which  cast  upon 
it  an  Executive  without  the  will  to  assist,  without  the  ability  to 
do  good, — with  nothing  to  distinguish  it,  in  fact,  but  its  per 
verse  power  and  purpose  to  do  evil. 

It  was  in  the  midst  of  such  embarrassments  that  the  Twen 
ty-seventh  Congress  set  about  its  work.  With  a  constancy  of 
patriotic  effort  never  surpassed  in  our  history,  it  maintained  its 
faith  through  every  trial,  steadfastly  pursued  its  aims  with  a 
most  intelligent  sense  of  its  duty,  and  brought  back  the  coun 
try  to  as  high  and  palmy  a  state  of  prosperity  as  the  faculties 
with  which  it  was  invested  under  the  Constitution  and  not 
wrested  from  it  by  the  Executive,  allowed.  If  it  failed  to  ac 
complish  all  that  it  desired  and  had  proposed,  the  fault  of  this 
failure  is  not  to  be  found  either  in  its  want  of  skill  to  plan  or 
of  labor  to  accomplish.  The  record  of  what  was  undone  after 
the  Legislature  had  done  its  work,  and  of  what  was  frustrated 
after  it  was  prepared,  will  supply  a  sufficiently  plain  account 
of  that  failure. 

The  enormous  expenditure  of  the  preceding  administra 
tion  has  been  reduced  to  little  more  than  half  its  average  an 
nual  amount ;  gross  abuses,  which  had  heretofore  grown  up 
under  the  neglect  or  connivance  of  former  Legislatures,  have 
been  fully  explored  and  divulged  ;  peculation  and  fraud  have 
been  arrested ;  the  revenues  have  been  restored  ;  collisions 
with  foreign  powers  guarded  against  in  future ;  bankruptcy  has 
been  released  from  its  deadly  burden,  and  thousands  of  useful 
citizens  have  been  recalled  to  active  enterprise  ;  commerce 
has  been  put  under  every  protection  of  law  and  restored  to  its 


A    DEFENCE    OF   THE    WHIGS.  441 

ancient  vigor  ;  mechanical  industry  has  been  sent  back,  cheer 
ful  and  happy,  to  its  deserted  field  ;  agriculture,  the  foundation 
of  the  great  mass  of  national  wealth,  has  been  encouraged  to 
a  renewed  labor,  by  the  gift  of  a  thriving  and  prosperous 
market  at  home  ;  the  great  and  invaluable  principle  of  a  Dis 
trict  Representation — the  safest  and  best  guarantee  which  our 
government  can  offer  of  its  faith  to  maintain  the  most  precious 
right  of  Republican  government,  the  protection,  namely,  of  the 
minority  by  giving  them  their  proper  voice  in  the  National 
Council, — has  been  secured,  as  far  as  the  Twenty-seventh 
Congress  could  secure  it  by  law.  All  these  have  been  accom 
plished.  If  the  currency  has  not  been  settled ;  if  the  States 
have  been  deprived  of  their  just  inheritance  in  the  public 
lands ;  if  the  district  principle  has  not  been  effectually  estab 
lished,  let  the  nation  ask  of  Mr.  Tyler  and  his  new  Democratic 
allies  why  these  measures  have  not  been  secured. 

What  was  achieved  will  long  be  remembered  to  the  honor 
of  the  Whig  ascendancy.  The  labors  of  the  Twenty-seventh 
Congress  will  not  be  lost.  For  years  to  come  the  investiga 
tions,  reports,  plans  and  propositions  of  that  Congress  will  fur 
nish  sure  guides  and  aids  to  beneficent  legislation  in  all  the 
great  departments  of  the  public  interest. 

It  has  been  one  of  the  subjects  of  outcry  raised  against  that 
Congress  by  its  enemies,  that  it  strove  to  carry  its  points  by  a 
Caucus :  that  it  was  under  the  domination  of  a  Caucus  dicta 
torship. 

The  point  of  this  accusation  is  neither  more  nor  less  than 
that  the  Whigs  met  together  for  the  purpose  of  adjusting  their 
measures,  before  they  presented  them  in  the  ordinary  forms  of 
legislation.  This,  in  regard  to  many  important  measures,  is 
true.  It  is  not  true,  perhaps,  as  fully  as  it  ought  to  have  been. 
Under  any  circumstances,  it  is  but  a  wise  and  useful  practice 
for  those  having  the  responsibility  and  the  control  of  legisla 
tion,  to  meet  frequently  together  with  a  view  to  successful  and 
efficient  action.  But  in  the  peculiar  position  of  the  Whigs  of 
the  Twenty-seventh  Congress  ;  with  all  the  difficulties  of  the 
IQ* 


442  POLITICAL    PA  PILES. 

public  affairs  before  them  :  holding  such  relations  as  they  held 
to  the  Executive ;  opposed,  as  they  were,  by  a  dexterous  par 
ty  who  had  no  principle  of  conduct  but  opposition  to  all  and 
every  Whig  measure, — if  this  duty  of  consultation  had  been 
avoided  or  neglected  by  the  majority,  they  would  have  been 
justly  liable  to  whatever  censure  might  attach  to  their  want  of 
success.  They  would  have  been  regardless  of  their  most  ob 
vious  duty  to  the  country. 

As  a  ground  of  serious  accusation,  this  attempt  to  excite 
hostility  is  merely  ridiculous,  and  has  therefore  failed  of  its 
aim.  It  is  worthy  of  notice  only,  from  the  stress  laid  upon  it 
by  the  President,  and  by  his  new  Democratic  friends,  while 
the  latter  had  a  motive  to  natter  him.  We  may  regard  it  as 
an  abortive  attempt  to  create  a  false  odium,  by  the  trick  of  an 
imputation  which  really  had  nothing  odious  in  it,  but  which, — 
in  accordance  with  the  estimate  of  the  intelligence  of  the  peo 
ple,  familiar  to  the  new-fangled,  counterfeit  Democracy  of  late 
days, — it  was  conceived  very  practicable  to  impose  upon  the 
public  credulity  as  a  heinous  offence.— No  party  has  ever 
practiced  the  Caucus  discipline  under  more  truly  exceptionable 
conditions  than  those  purists  themselves  :  no  party  has  ever 
carried  it  to  the  same  length  of  denunciation  against  individ 
ual  dissent  and  of  proscription.  While  the  Whigs  of  the 
Twenty-seventh  Congress  resorted  to  private  consultation  to 
mature  their  course  of  proceeding,  with  a  view  to  the  attain 
ment  of  the  greatest  good  to  the  country,  in  the  alleviation  of 
the  public  distress,  their  adversaries  were  no  less  diligently 
assembled  in  frequent  caucus,  to  devise  plans  to  thwart,  ob 
struct  and  destroy.  The  malignant  joy' with  which  they  con 
templated  each  new  embarrassment  that  arose  ;  with  which 
they  cheered  on  the  President  to  every  act  of  obstruction  ; 
with  which  they  lent  their  aid  to  defeat  every  valuable  meas 
ure  ;  and  with  which  they  lifted  up  the  loud  voice  of  exultation 
upon  the  accomplishment  of  any  signal  mischief,  or  the  dis 
comfiture  of  any  signal  good,  will  long  be  remembered  against 
them  in  the  future  political  contests  of  the  people,  and  will 


A    DEFENCE    OF    THE    WHIGS. 

swe41  the  measure  of  retribution  against  them  in  that  day  of 
reckoning  which  is  certainly  at  hand. 
Again,  we  bide  our  time. 

IX 

THE      NEW     DEMOCRACY. THE      DICTATOR. THE      ARRAY       OF 

1844- 

1  have  heretofore  descanted,  somewhat  at  large,  upon  the 
character  and  aims  of  the  two  great  parties  which  divide  the 
nation.  The  Whigs,  I  have  shown,  from  their  first  organiza 
tion  up  to  the  present  moment,  as  standing  upon  the  founda 
tion  of  well-defined  and  well-understood  principles  of  the 
deepest  import  both  in  the  structure  of  our  government  and 
in  the  course  of  its  administration.  Their  opponents — those 
who  now  call  themselves  the  Democracy — I  have  presented 
as  a  party  compacted,  so  far  as  regards  either  their  principles 
or  their  measures,  of  incongruous  fragments,  exhibiting  the 
most  opposite  and  heterogeneous  views,  and  associated  only 
upon  personal  predilections  and  interests  :  That  this  party 
was,  in  fact,  originally  organized  upon  the  popularity  of  Gen 
eral  Jackson  ;  was  composed  of  Federalists  and  Democrats^ 
— Federalists  making  war  against  the  old  Democratic  ascen 
dency  ; — Democrats  renouncing  the  ancient  landmarks  of  the 
party,  and  prepared  to  sanction  any  amount  of  Federal  infu 
sion  into  the  policy  of  the  administration  ;  That,  combined 
of  these  elements,  it  adopted  and  promulgated  every  variety 
of  political  sentiment  which  had  ever  been  developed  in  the 
country.  It  pretended  to  no  consistency  of  doctrine,  but  in 
variably  studied  the  humor  of  the  day,  and  espoused  and  dis 
carded  the  most  opposite  and  conflicting  opinions,  without 
even  thinking  it  worth  while  to  offer  an  excuse  for  its  singular 
aberrations.  It  has  alternately,  during  the  term  of  its  exist 
ence,  advocated  and  rejected  every  great  measure  of  pol 
icy  which  has  been  agitated  in  the  public  councils.  In  the 
beginning  of  its  career,  it  proposed  the  Single  term,  a  na- 


444  POLITICAL    PAPERS. 

tional  Government  Bank,  a  protective  Tariff,  the  distribution  of 
the  Surplus  revenue,  the  surrender  of  the  Public  Lands,  the  lim 
itation  of  Executive  Patronage.  In  its  progress  it  renounced 
every  one  of  these  measures.  ]t  has  come,  at  last,  to  pre 
sent  the  union  of  the  most  extraordinary  political  elements  any 
country  ever  witnessed.  They  who  were  the  authors  of  the 
Force  Bill  and  the  Proclamation  are  now  ready  to  take  for  their 
President  the  Chief  of  Nullification, — he  whom  it  was  the  object 
of  the  Force  Bill  and  the  Proclamation  to  reward  with  a  halter  ; 
whom  many  of  them  were  even  anxious  to  visit  with  that  dis 
tinction.  They  who  were  willing  to  sever  the  Union  rather 
than  submit  to  a  protective  Tariff,  are  now  ready  to  abide  the 
decree  of  a  Convention  which  shall  endeavor  to  place  the  Chief 
Magistracy  in  the  hands  of  him  who  voted  for  the  Tariff  of 
1828.  They  who  supported  General  Jackson's  recommenda 
tion  in  favor  of  a  National  Bank  founded  on  the  Revenues  of 
the  Government,  claim  the  honors  of  supreme  dominion  upon 
their  constitutional  antipathy  to  a  Bank  in  any  form  whatever. 
They  who  denounced  the  Sub-Treasury  as  "  disorganizing  and 
revolutionary,"  now  commend  it  as  a  second  Declaration  of  In 
dependence. 

It  were  useless  to  go  through  the  catalogue.  No  imagin 
able  freak  of  political  ambidexterity  that  may  be  alleged,  would 
more  than  excite  a  smile  from  a  party  which  has  not  such  in 
trepidity  of  dissimulation  as  to  talk  of  its  consistency.  They 
who  could  consent  to  be  driven  into  the  fold  and  there  unre 
sistingly  to  await  the  lot  which  should  consign  them  to  the 
portion  of  Mr.  Calhoun  or  Mr.  Van  Buren,  just  as  the  legerde 
main  of  a  caucus  of  politicians  should  dispose  of  them,  are 
surely  proof  against  all  raillery  on  their  political  virtue. 

The  party  was  personal  merely.  Springing  out  of  the  re 
nown  of  a  Great  Chief,  and  living  by  his  will  and  on  his  breath, 
it  will  come  to  its  dissolution  even  before  he  who  founded  it 
shall  pay  the  debt  of  nature.  As  long  as  his  influence  was 
rife,  it  possessed  the  vigor  which  belonged  to  his  character. 
As  that  influence  wanes,  in  retirement  and  with  advancing 


A    DEFENCE     OF    THE    WHIGS.  445 

years  that  find  subjects  more  congenial  than  the  mean  game 
of  worldly  a'ubition,  the  party  gradually  becomes  shorn  of 
its  strength  ; — hastens  to  that  inevitable  doom  to  which  dis- 

*D 

cord  and  rival  hate  have,  in  all  ages,  consigned  parties  and 
communities  that  have  "  no  other  principle  of  cohesion  than 
the  hope  of  plunder." — Not  all  the  glory  that  encircled  Char 
lemagne  and  his  Paladins  could  save  the  dominion  to  his  en 
vious  and  quarrelsome  successors.  That  most  notable  disas 
ter  of  Fontenay,  —  where,  say  the  historians,  perished  the 
whole  force  which  had  so  often  turned  back  the  tide  of  Saxon 
war — occurred  in  the  second  reign  after  the  emperor.  It  was 
the  fatal  result  of  an  embroilment  between  three  brothers, 
grandsons  of  the  Western  Caesar,  brawling  for  the  empire. 
The  vast  domain  of  Charlemagne  sunk  into  a  petty  province. 
The  story  is  not  without  its  moral.  Another  Fontenay  is  at 
hand. 

The  gravest  charge  which  we  have  now  to  make  against 
this  strange  Democracy  is  the  supple  support  they  have  given 
to  the  present  administration  ; — an  administration  they  have 
lured  to  its  ruin.  They  have  extracted  from  it  all  the  patron 
age  it  is  able  to  bestow.  As  the  price  of  this  compliance;  they 
gave  it  prompt  encouragement  in  the  worst  acts  of  its  malice 
against  the  Whigs  ;  affected  to  applaud  it  for  its  treachery 
and  to  praise  it  for  its  vices.  They  have,  through  such  means, 
succeeded  in  incorporating  that  administration  in  their  party  ; 
have  made  themselves  responsible  for  its  misdemeanors. 
They  must  answer  this  responsibility  to  the  country.  They 
would,  now,  "  cast  it,  like  a  worthless  weed,  away,"  hoping  in 
this  tardy  repudiation  to  escape  the  censure  of  their  illicit  in 
tercourse.  They  may  assume  to  deny  it  farther  participation 
in  their  favors,  now  that  it  has  nothing  more  to  grant.  But  it 
is  too  late.  They  will  not  be  allowed  to  shake  off  the  connec 
tion  merely  because  it  ceases  to  be  profitable.  They  have 
taken  Mr.  Tyler  "  for  better,"  they  must  also  hold  to  him  "  for 
worse,"  and  abide  the  censure  of  the  nation,  not  only  for  the 
mischief  they  have  helped  to  do,  but  for  having  made  an  im- 


446  POLITICAL    PAPERS. 

pure  alliance  for  the  sake  of  gain  :  for  the  hypocrisy  and  liber 
tinism  that  have  marked  their  whole  career  of  seduction. 

As  to  Mr.  Tyler,  our  quarrel  with  him  has  lost  all  its  sig 
nificance  in  his  feebleness.  But  as  to  the  New  Democracy, 
our  motives  to  contest  are  even  whetted  and  rendered  more 
keen  by  the  injury  they  have  sought  to  inflict  upon  us,  in  tam 
pering  with  the  President's  weakness,  inflaming  his  hate  and 
encouraging  his  apostasy, — conduct  less  pursued  from  any 
hope  of  benefit  to  them,  than  from  a  meditated  design  of  evil 
to  our  cause.  In  this  we  have  strong  motive  to  renewed  hos 
tility,  the  effect  of  which  will  be  felt  when  we  take  the  field. 
The  country,  if  we  are  not  deceived,  will  resent  this  reckless 
ness  to  the  public  welfare,  and  will  not  hold  a  party  excused 
whose  zeal  to  destroy  had  led  it  to  forget  its  more  obvious 
duty  of  preserving  what  is  good. 

Our  quarrel,  therefore,  is  with  Locofocoism,— not  with  Mr. 
Tyler.  If  we  had  no  other  griefs  to  complain  of  than  his  de 
sertion  ;  if  no  enemy  but  him,  we  should  congratulate  our 
selves  upon  the  riddance  of  a  man  who  never  had  the  faculty 
to  do  us  service,  and  whose  alienation  was  to  be  accounted 
but  a  fortunate  event.  We  should  merely  have  preserved  si 
lence. 

But  we  pay  our  adversaries  the  compliment  to  say,  that,  as 
yet,  their  organization,  their  numbers,  their  purposes,  their 
means  of  warfare, — more  than  these, — the  assiduity  and  the 
craft  of  their  misrepresentations,  furnish  cogent  argument  why 
we  should  make  our  case  understood ;  furnish  the  most  au 
thoritative  reasons  why  we  should  write  and  publish  A  DE 
FENCE  OF  THE  WHIGS. 

The  time  is  nearly  come  when  we  shall  raise  our  banner 
in  another  Presidential  contest.  We  shall  take  care  that  there 
be  no  mistake  in  our  men.  In  part,  it  may  be  said,  we  have 
already  taken  care  of  that.  The  Whigs,  with  one  consent ; 
with  a  unanimity,  almost  without  parallel  in  history,  have 
turned  their  eyes  to  one  man  in  this  nation  who  will,  assured 
ly,  if  Providence  spares  him  for  the  contest,  be  the  Leader  of 


A    DEFENCE    OF    THE    WHIGS.  447 

our  Host. — Even  he  The  Dictator, — the  great  Champion  of 
Constitutional  right, — the  personation  of  every  public  Virtue, 
— genuine  image  of  the  Whig  Sentiment — THE  MAN  OF  THE 
UNION,— HENRY  CLAY,  will  lead  our  Host  To  him  the 
hand  of  the  general  Whig  Party  points,  as  to  our  Cynosure : 
Hand  guided  by  the  Heart  of  every  Whig  of  the  Land. 

Our  adversaries,  in  reproach,  call  him  THE  DICTATOR. 
We  take  the  word,  and  will  turn  their  reproach  to  honor. — 
Happy  is  it  for  that  nation  that  holds  within  its  confines  one 
man,  in  whose  sagacity  and  pure  purpose  there  is  such  per 
vading  faith  that  his  counsel  shall  acquire  the  authority  of  a 
dictator  ;  toward  whom  such  general  trust  abounds,  that  the 
volunteer  public  deference  shall  receive  his  advice  as  a  paren 
tal  command !  Glorious  reward  of  stainless  patriotism ! 
Happy  homage  to  Wisdom  and  Virtue ! — Dictator,  such  as 
this,  the  Country  once  had — but  once. 

What  more  enviable  chaplet  can  be  woven  for  man's  brow 
than  such  a  testimony?  That  Henry  Clay,  a  private  tiller  of 
the  soil ;  unostentatious  citizen  ;  with  no  official  power ;  all 
the  power  of  the  Executive  government, — the  Gift-giving  pow 
er — arrayed  against  him  ;  simply  attired  in  his  own  virtues,  il 
lustrated  only  by  his  deeds — should  thus  sway  the  affections 
of  the  Republic,  thus  move  "  the  wilderness  of  free  minds ! " 
— What  richer  memorial  of  a  patriot's  worth  than  this  ? 

Would  that  our  fortunate  Commonwealth  may  never  find 
other  Dictator  than  such  as  he  ! — had  never  found  other ! 

Illustrious  living  inheritance  is  ours  in  such  a  man.  Au 
spicious  is  it  for  the  Whig  party  that  with  such  prompt  and  gen 
erous  accord,  we  fix  our  thoughts  upon  him.  That  of  the  thou 
sands  worthy,  none  may  stand  in  rivalry  with  him,  worthiest 
of  all. 

It  were  a  small  labor  to  write  his  vindication  against  the 
calumnies  of  enemies.  They  but  prove  how  much  he  is  loved, 
how  much  feared.  If  nothing  were  said  against  him,  his  fame 
would  want  one  testimonial  to  his  eminent  worth.  It  would 
leave  him  under  the  suspicion  of  a  tame  mediocrity  which,  less 


448  POLITICAL    PAPERS. 

than  of  any  man  in  this  Union,  is  his.  Standing,  as  he  does, 
before  the  world,  an  impersonation  of  the  principles  of  the 
Whig  party,  he  shares  with  them  the  enmity  of  many  foes  : — 
perhaps,  it  would  be  more  just  to  say,  opposition  of  adversaries, 
rather  than  enmity ;  for  there  is  admitted  to  be  a  frank  and 
generous  gallantry  in  his  nature  which,  for  the  most  part,  dis 
arms  political  hostility  of  personal  ill-will,  and  extorts  from 
those  who  are  arrayed  in  adverse  ranks,  a  liberal  confession  of 
respect ;  even  nurses  a  secret  wish, — and  indeed  often  prompts 
the  open  expression  of  it, — that,  party  difference  aside,  his  com 
panionship  were  theirs. 

Still  he  has  foes, — foes  to  his  fame  and  name.  We  must 
look  for  these,  chiefly,  in  the  purlieus  of  the  White  House. 
There,  his  great  sin  would  seem  to  be,  that  he  could  not  sur 
render  his  convictions  of  duty  at  the  footstool  of  power.  If  he 
could  have  consented  to  offer  the  incense  of  flattery  there,  and 
joined  with  those  who  sought  to  break  up  the  Whig  patty  for 
the  sake  of  elevating  themselves,  we  should,  perhaps,  have 
heard  nothing  of  a  Dictatorship ;  but  only  praises  to  the  man 
whose  flexible  conscience  could  have  been  turned  to  such  prof 
itable  account. 

Mr.  Clay  presents,  as  guardian  of  his  faith,  the  glory  of  a 
life  of  eminent  desert — desert  dearer  to  him  than  all  renown. 
In  this,  the  evening  of  his  days,  he  looks  back  from  an  emi 
nence,  far  more  exalted  than  any  official  station,  upon  a  bril 
.liant  career  of  usefulness  to  his  country,  rendered  more  brilliant 
by  great  talents  guided  by  the  utmost  purity  of  motive  and  con 
sistency  of  purpose  to  the  promotion  of  national  happiness.  In 
that  retrospect  he  finds  only  ever  fresh  incentives  to  persevere 
in  the  course  he  has  pursued.  His  life  is  an  epic  of  grand 
achievements  which  have^never  been  tarnished  by  servility  of 
opinion  to  any  man  however  distinguished.  Few  could  have 
meditated  such  an  insult  to  his  fame  as  to  expect  that  he  would 
forfeit  his  title  to  this  praise  for  the  sake  of  conciliating  the  fa 
vor  or  averting  the  malevolence  of  John  Tyler. 

His  offence  is  that  he  misapprehended  the  character  of  the 


A    DEFENCE    OF    THE    WHIGS.  4-49 

man  whom  the  Constitution  has  intrusted  with  the  Veto,  and 
deemed  it  impossible  that  the  President  could  do  that  which 
the  public  welfare,  the  public  opinion  and  his  own  declarations 
had  authorized  the  country  to  believe  he  would  not  do.  It  is 
that  he  preferred  to  adhere  to  his  faith  rather  than  bend  to  the 
purpose  of  a  versatile  Chief  Magistrate  whom  no  man  could 
believe  because  no  man  could  find  him  twice  in  the  same  opin 
ion  ;  who,  in  the  intoxication  of  sudden  preferment,  fancied 
himself  clothed  with  a  heavenly  mission,  of  which  the  chief  pur 
pose,  as  far  as  we  can  gather  it  from  his  acts,  was  to  disband 
and  discard  his  first  friends  and  prolong  his  unhappy  power, 
through  the  aid  of  new  combinations  which  were  not  possible 
consistently  with  any  theory  of  fidelity  to  the  trust  implied  in 
his  election. 

For  these  offences,  chiefly,  has  Mr.  Clay  been  denounced. 
The  denunciation  will  scarcely  rufHe  the  serenity  of  his  temper. 
He  yet  survives,  tranquil  in  the  privacy  of  Ashland,  where  each 
hour  of  his  life  brings  him  more  content  than  a  whole  century 
of  mawkish  sycophancy  which  trails  after  the  King  of  Shreds 
and  Patches  in  the  White  House. 

Among  all  other  classes  of  political  adversaries  Mr.  Clay 
is  treated  as  a  generous  opponent.  No  one  imputes  to  him 
concealment  of  opinion,  evasion  of  the  full  responsibility  of  his 
position,  or  ambiguity  in  relation  to  any  public  measure. 
There  needs  no  proclamation  to  announce  the  exact  issue  put 
in  controversy,  when  Mr.  Clay's  name  is  inscribed  upon  our 
flag.  In  those  letters  will  be  read  the  whole  Whig  formula  of 
doctrine.  Go  back  to  1816  and  follow  his  ample  history  up 
from  that  day, — then  say  if  he  has  retracted  one  sentiment  of 
public  duty,  renounced  one  matured  opinion  of  what  is  neces 
sary  to  the  public  good.  While  the'  tide  of  changing  events 
has  swept  the  most  conspicuous  of  his  adversaries  along  its 
heady  current  into  every  latitude  of  doctrine,  it  has  swept  by 
him,  fast  anchored  on  the  rock  of  his  political  faith,  and  finds 
him,  to-day,  the  same  champion  of  popular  right  that  it  found 
him  when  he  stood  by  Mr.  Madison  the  sturdiest  of  his  sup- 


450  POLITICAL   PAPERS. 

ports.  They  call  him  a  Federalist.  Even  the  ancient  Priests 
of  that  Faith,  now  refulgent  in  the  robes  of  the  New  Democra 
cy,  brand  him  with  that  epithet,  as  the  most  poignant  opprobri 
um  they  can  heap  upon  his  name.  We  may  truly  say,  Mr. 
Clay's  democracy  is  not  of  the  complexion  which  they  profess. 
But  it  is  the  democracy  of  him  they  hated  most  when  living, 
they  most  affect  to  praise  when  dead, — the  Democracy  of  Mad 
ison. — Such  is  the  Democracy  of  the  Whigs. 

It  is  an  unprofitable  contention  which  dwells  merely  upon 
names.  We  may  permit  our  opponents  to  assume  what  dis 
guise,  in  this  sort,  may  best  answer  the  stratagem  of  their  war. 
We  look  to  things  rather  than  to  this  bawble  of  a  name.  In 
the  hope  to  secure  a  fundamental  good  to  present  and  future 
generations,  by  curbing  the  pernicious  extravagance  of  Execu 
tive  authority,  pushed,  as  by  late  precedent  it  has  been,  to  the 
unwholesome  verge  of  monarchical  power ;  by  giving  its. appro 
priate  scope  to  the  Representative  principle ;  and,  above  all, 
by  securing  the  Will  of  the  People,  expressed  in  their  Legisla 
ture,  against  the  caprices  of  Presidents  or  the  faction  of  Parties, 
— we  resume  our  array  and  throw  ourselves  upon  the  arbitra 
ment  of  the  Nation.  Contending  for  these,  and  for  a  system 
of  measures  long  proclaimed  and  thoroughly  understood,  we 
desire  to  be  known  by  that  appellation  which  is  historically  as 
sociated  with  our  aims,  and  which  is  illustrious  in  the  annals 
of  Constitutional  Liberty,  on  both  shores  of  the  Atlantic,  as 
indicating  the  friends  of  PRIVILEGE  in  opposition  to  the  friends 
of  PREROGATIVE. — Such  are  the  Whigs  who  are  now  gathering 
for  the  strife  of  1844. 


FINANCE. 


COUNTER  EEPOET 

FROM  THE  SELECT  COMMITTEE  OX  THE  CURRENCY,  TO  THE 
HOUSE  OF  REPRESENTATIVES,  UNITED  STATES,  FEBRUA 
RY  17,  1842. 

THE  undersigned,  from  the  Select  Committee  to  whom 
was  referred  so  much  of  the  President's  message  as 
relates  to  the  scheme  of  finance  recommended  therein  to  the 
consideration  of  Congress,  and  the  letter  of  the  Secretary  of 
the  Treasury  on  the  subject  of  the  Board  of  Exchequer,  being 
compelled  to  dissent  from  the  decision  of  a  majority  of  the 
committee  to  report  the  bill  which  has  been  lately  presented 
by  them  to  this  House,  respectfully  asks  leave  to  offer  his  rea 
sons  for  that  dissent : 

He  is  duly  impressed  with  a  sense  of  the  weighty  responsi 
bility  imposed  upon  the  committee  in  the  duty  assigned  to  it 
by  the  House.  He  is  profoundly  conscious  of  the  anxious 
wish  of  the  nation  to  see  this  long-agitated  question  of  the 
currency  determined,  by  the  adoption  of  some  measure  calcu- 
lated  to  relieve  th<£  sufferings  of  the  community.  No  one  more 
painfully  feels,  than  he  does,  the  reality  of  those  disorders  in 
the  administration  of  the  public  affairs,  which,  for  years  past, 
have  been  invading  the  private  thrift  and  personal  welfare  of 
our  citizens  in  the  pursuit  of  their  daily  occupations,  and  which 
have  at  last,  with  a  speed  and  certainty  long  foreseen,  attained 
to  a  most  unhappy  pre-eminence  among  the  topics  soliciting 
the  intervention  and  relief  of  national  legislation. 

He  would  express  his  conviction  that  the  only  sure  and 
effective  remedy  for  the  universal  and  increasing  evils  which 


452  POLITICAL    PAPERS. 

are  felt  with  so  much  poignancy  at  the  present  time  through 
out  the  community,  is  to  be  found  in  the  suggestions  of  past 
experience  and  in  a  return  to  that  course  of  policy  from  which 
the  Government  has  departed.  That  in  this  department  is  to 
be  traced  the  sequence  of  errors  which  have  entailed  upon  the 
country  the  calamities  under  which  it  now  suffers.  Holding 
this  opinion,  he  has  been  reluctant  to  confide  in  any  untried 
measure  of  expediency,  which  even  the  most  ingenious  minds 
could  propose,  as  likely  to  restore  the  prosperity  of  the  nation. 
To  him  it  seerns  that  the  only  obstacle  in  the  way  of  this  hap 
py  achievement  has  been  set  up  by  the  exasperation  of  politi 
cal  sentiment  or  the  pride  of  partisan  opinion,  which  has 
grown  too  wayward  to  be  instructed,  or  too  obstinate  to  confess 
its  errors,  and  turn  back  to  the  path  which  its  secret  judgment 
points  out  to  it ;  and  that  the  highest  talents  and  most  acute 
intelligence  have  been  employed  to  devise  plausible  contri 
vances  and  artful  shifts  to  escape  the  necessity  of  recurring  to 
the  obvious,  but  proscribed  measures  which  old  usage  has 
demonstrated  to  be  the  best,  and  to  which  the  impartial  sense 
of  the  nation  invites,  and  its  indignant  voice  warns  them  to 
return. 

The  undersigned  can  find  no  reason  to  concur  with  the 
majority  of  the  committee  in  the  bill  they  have  reported  to  the 
House.  It  is  with  great  regret  that  he  differs  from  his  col 
leagues,  because  he  cannot  but  feel  that,  in  his  conflict  of  opin 
ions  with  them,  he  exposes  himself  to  the  hazard  of  misrepre 
sentation  ;  that  he  will  be  charged  by  many  with  the  bias  of 
party  attachments,  by  some  even  with  factious  division.  He 
disavows  and  repels  all  such  motives. 

When  the  President  of  the  United  States  communicated 
his  message  to  Congress,  at  the  opening  of  the  late  extra  ses 
sion,  there  was  no  sentiment  uttered  by  him  on  that  occasion 
which  met  with  a  more  hearty  response  from  this  body  and  the 
people  than  the  utter  reprobation  expressed  against  the  exist 
ing  Sub-Treasury  system.  He  spoke  truly,  when,  in  reference 
to  that  measure,  he  declared  that,  "  to  say  nothing  of  the  inse 


FINANCE.  4:53 

curity  of  the  public  moneys,  its  injurious  effects  have  been  an 
ticipated  by  the  country  in  its  unqualified  condemnation"  After 
so  just,  so  explicit,  and  so  public  a  censure,  made  with  so 
much  deliberation,  and  so  fully  applauded  as  it  was  by  the 
country,  so  frequently  fore-announced  in  Congress,  and  so  cor 
dially  approved  by  that  body  afterwards,  the  undersigned  can 
discover  no  reason  to  rebuke  the  President's  judgment  in  this 
particular,  by  consenting  to  join  in  the  recommendation  of  any 
measure  of  the  same  character,  to  this  House  or  the  nation,  at 
the  present  time.  Nothing  has  since  transpired  to  cast  a 
doubt  upon  the  soundness  of  the  President's  views  at  the  time 
referred  to.  That  system  was  repealed,  and  no  one  has  yet 
asked  to  have  it  restored.  It  was,  therefore,  with  no  small 
surprise  that  the  undersigned  was  called  to  witness  so  striking 
a  fact  as  the  reproduction  of  this  exploded  measure  in  the 
committee  ;  with  still  greater  sensation  did  he  contemplate  its 
adoption  by  the  majority  who  reported  the  bill. 

The  undersigned  will  not  repeat  the  arguments  which  have 
been  so  often  presented  to  the  nation  against  this  scheme  for 
regulating  the  fiscal  affairs  of  the  Government ;  but  he  will  beg 
leave  to  invite  the  attention  of  the  House  to  a  comparison  of 
the  measure  recently  submitted  by  the  committee  with  that 
repudiated  law  to  which  he  has  referred.  Such  an  examina 
tion  will  show,  that,  in  their  most  essential  characteristic  and 
odious  features,  they  are  framed  upon  the  same  principle,  and 
are  liable  to  the  same  objections. 

The  Sub-Treasury  was  placed  under  the  control  of  the 
Secretary  of  the  Treasury  and  the  Treasurer  of  the  United 
States.  The  one  was  to  act  as  a  check  upon  the  other.  The 
Exchequer,  according  to  the  bill  reported,  is  placed  under  the 
control  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  the  Treasurer,  and  a 
commissioner.  The  Sub-Treasury  established  agencies  at 
Boston,  New  York,  Charleston  and  St.  Louis,  which  were 
placed  under  the  charge  of  receivers.  It  also  exacted  the 
duties  of  agents  from  the  directors  and  superintendents  of  the 
mint  and  branch  mints,  the  collectors  (or  surveyors,  where  no 


POLITICAL    PAPERS. 

collector  existed),  receivers  of  the  land  offices,  and  certain 
post-masters.  These  officers  were  guarded  or  checked  in  the 
performance  of  their  several  functions  by  the  naval  officers, 
surveyors,  registers  of  the  land  offices,  and  treasurers  of  the 
mints,  respectively.  The  Exchequer  proposes  to  establish  like 
agencies  at  Boston,  New  York,  Philadelphia,  Charleston,  New 
Orleans  and  five  others,  if  deemed  expedient,  wherever  the 
board  may  select.  The  superintendents  of  these  agencies  are 
to  be  held  in  check  by  the  registers  attached  to  the  same.  It 
also  proposes  to  employ  the  mint  and  branch  mints,  under 
such  checks  and  regulations  as  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasu 
ry  may  prescribe  ;  and,  with  fewer  guards  than  weTe  supplied 
by  the  Sub-Treasury  scheme,  commits  the  public  moneys  to 
the  keeping  of  sundry  collectors,  land  officers,  and  postmasters, 
as  agents  of  the  Treasury,  and  subject  only  to  the  draft  of  the 
Treasurer. 

The  Sub-Treasury  supplied  vaults  and  safes  for  the  safe 
keeping  of  the  funds. 

The  Exchequer  proposes  the  same  precautions. 

The  Sub-Treasury  required  bonds  from  its  several  officers, 
conditioned  for  the  faithful  performance  of  their  duties. 

The  Exchequer  contains  the  same  provision. 
'  The  moneys  in  the  possession  of  the  several  agencies  un 
der  the  Sub-Treasury  were  declared  to  be  in  the  Treasury  of 
the  United  States. 

The  Exchequer  plan  suggests  the  same  enactment. 

The  two  systems  contain  similar  or  analagous  provisions 
against  embezzlement. 

So  far  the  structure  of  the  two  systems  bears  a  close  re 
semblance  ;  the  Sub-Treasury  having  the  advantage,  perhaps, 
in  simplicity  of  organization  and  cheapness  in  the  expense — 
inasmuch  as  it  employed  several  officers  of  Government  al 
ready  in  existence,  merely  enlarging  the  sphere  of  their  duties. 

The  two  schemes  differ  in  the  following  points  : 

The  Sub-Treasury  was  designed  to  promote  a  metallic  cir 
culation. 


FINANCE.  455 

The  Exchequer  proposes  to  furnish,  instead  of  such  a  cir 
culation,  its  exact  counterpart  in  Government  paper. 

The  Exchequer  provides  for  a  system  of  private  deposits. 

The  Sub-Treasury  had  no  correspondent  provision. 

The  Sub-Treasury  required  the  public  dues  ultimately  to 
be  paid  in  coin. 

The  Exchequer  authorizes  the  receipt  of  the  notes  of  spe 
cie-paying  banks,  and  Government  paper. 

These  differences,  so  far  as  regards  the  practical  operation 
of  the  two  systems  upon  the  country,  will  be  found  to  be  of 
small  import. 

The  Sub-Treasury  went  into  operation  at  a  time  when  the 
Government  had  adopted  the  practice  of  issuing  Treasury 
notes ;  a  practice  which  had  met  with  so  much  favor  from  the 
friends  of  the  Sub-Treasury  system,  as  to  constitute  a  mate 
rial  element  in  the  policy  of  their  administration  of  it.  The 
two  were  almost  inseparably  connected.  The  public  dues 
were  consequently  made  payable  in  these  notes,  and  they  have 
been  accordingly  so  used. 

How  far  the  Sub-Treasury  succeeded  in  promoting  a  me 
tallic  circulation  every  one  is  aware.  Some  small  portions  of 
gold  have  been  occasionally  disbursed,  chiefly  to  members  of 
Congress  and  officers  of  the  Government ;  its  other  disburse 
ments  have  been  made  in  drafts  and  notes.  The  Exchequer 
plan  would  exert  no  greater  or  more  beneficial  influence  upon 
the  currency.  It  proposes  to  receive  its  payment  in  the  notes 
of  specie-paying  banks.  These  notes  it  requires  to  be  imme 
diately  converted,  within  the  week  of  their  reception  or  often- 
er,  into  coin ;  and  it  forbids  the  paying  out  of  these  notes  to 
any  Government  or  other  creditor.  This  is  equivalent  to  the 
enactment  of  the  specie  clause  in  the  Sub-Treasury  law,  and 
would  produce  precisely  the  same  result. 

The  issue  of  a  paper  dollar  for  every  metallic  one  in  the 
Exchequer,  and  a  faithful  guardianship  of  the  coin  until  its 
paper  counterpart  shall  come  in  for  redemption,  is  exactly 
equivalent,  in  practical  effect  upon  the  currency,  to  the  circula- 


456  POLITICAL    PAPERS. 

tion  of  the  coin  itself.  Nothing  is  added  to  the  currency  ;  and 
the  only  benefit  this  substitution  presents,  is  in  the  supply  of 
a  more  portable  medium.  If  the  coin  be  gold,  this  advantage 
is  diminished. 

As  these  issues  of  the  Exchequer  are  required  to  be  made 
in  denominations  as  low  as  fives  and  tens,  and  not  to  exceed 
the  denomination  of  one  hundred  dollars,  and  as  they  are  to 
be  payable,  on  demand,  to  the  bearer,  they  are  destined  for 
local  circulation,  and  not,  to  any  great  extent,  for  transmission 
by  mail — a  fact  which  still  more  diminishes  the  motive  to  pre 
fer  them  before  gold. 

We  may  therefore  assume  that,  in  the  relief  to  be  afforded 
the  disordered  currency  of  the  nation,  the  Exchequer  plan  is 
calculated  to  do  little  more  for  it  than  the  Sub-Treasury  was 
able  to  effect.  Both  look  to  a  collection  of  the  revenues  in 
coin.  The  one  ostensibly  disbursed  in  coin ;  the  other  dis 
burses  an  order  on  itself,  for  coin  actually  held  to  meet  the 
order.  The  currency  in  neither  case  receives  any  augmenta 
tion. 

The  majority  of  the  committee,  in  providing  for  private  de 
posits,  seem  to  think  that  this  attribute  of  their  plan  will  in 
crease  the  paper  circulation.  The  Exchequer  is  to  invite  de 
posits  of  coin  from  individuals,  and  to  give  in  return  an  exact 
counterpart  of  the  deposit,  dollar  for  dollar,  in  the  same  kind 
of  paper,  and  restricted  within  the  same  denominations  as 
those  above  referred  to.  The  depositor,  it  is  supposed,  will 
be  led  to  place  his  money  in  this  Exchequer  for  safe  keeping; 
yet  he  is  not  allowed  the  privilege  of  holding  it  there  subject 
to  his  own  order,  and  to  be  checked  for  as  his  occasions  may 
require,  but  he  is  to  be  compelled  to  take,  at  once,  an  equiva 
lent  amount  of  certificates,  in  the  small  denominations  adapt 
ed  to  local  currency,  payable  to  bearer,  which  he  must  carry 
about  his  person  or  deposit  at  home  in  his  own  safe,  or  in 
some  bank  or  other  place  of  deposit ;  and  it  is  imagined  that, 
under  these  circumstances,  he  will  find  an  inducement  to 
change  his  coin  for  this /£/*/",  with  a  view  to  its  safe  keeping! 


457 

Individuals  having  immediate  use  for  small  sums  of  money, 
or  wishing  paper  adapted  to  the  expenses  of  a  journey,  and 
current  beyond  the  circle  of  the  trade  of  their  own  locality, 
would  undoubtedly  find  a  convenience  in  such  a  substitution 
for  coin,  and  might  perhaps,  under  such  conditions,  resort  to 
the  Exchequer. 

During  the  present  suspension  of  specie  payments,  in  the 
States  where  this  suspension  exists,  such  deposits  might  also 
be  expected  to  be  made,  for  the  sake  of  getting  a  better  paper 
than  the  suspended  Banks  can  afford.  But,  beyond  these  in 
ducements,  the  undersigned  can  discover  no  possible  motive 
which  could  operate  upon  a  single  individual  in  the  nation  to 
make  a  deposit  on  the  terms  prescribed.  When  a  resumption 
shall  take  place  in  the  payments  of  the  banks  at  present  sus 
pended,  the  success  of  this  private  deposit  arrangement  in  the 
bill  must  be  limited  to  a  circle  of  operations  too  small  to  give 
it  any  significance  in  the  view  even  of  its  friends. 

But  if  the  scheme  of  these  deposits  should  be  successful 
to  the  full  extent  projected,  it  still  fails  to  add  to  the  currency 
a  single  element  better  than  what  was  in  it  before. 

The  undersigned,  therefore,  thinks  that  these  apparent 
differences  between  the  Sub-Treasury  and  the  Exchequer  pre 
sent,  in  fact,  but  little  variation  in  the  practical  working  of  the 
two  schemes,  and  still  less  in  the  principles  which  have  made 
the  sub-Treasury  an  odious  and  offensive  law  to  the  great  body 
of  the  nation. 

The  majority  of  the  committee,  however,  have  incorporated 
another  provision  in  the  bill,  which  may  be  supposed  to  create 
a  difference  between  it  and  the  Sub-Treasury.  This  will  be 
found  in  the  Qth  and  loth  sections,  relating  to  the  sale  and 
purchase  of  bills  of  exchange. 

This  feature  constitutes  no  difference  between  the  two  sys 
tems,  except  in  a  particular  of  greater  hazard,  which  will  be 
noticed  hereafter. 

The  bills  of  exchange  to  be  bought  or  sold  can  have  no  ap 
plication  to  any  other  fund  than  the  public  deposits.  The  pri- 
20 


458  POLITICAL    PAPEKS. 

vate  deposits  being  a  fund  to  be  retained  untouched  in  the 
Exchequer,  to  redeem  the  certificates  issued  upon  it,  and  at 
the  place  where  issued,  cannot  of  course  be  used  either  in  the 
purchase  or  sale  of  Exchange.  Such  an  appropriation  of  this 
fund  is  strictly  forbidden,  and  even  made  a  felony.  The  drafts, 
therefore,  are  to  be  made  only  upon  \hzpublic  deposits,  where- 
ever  they  may  be  found.  In  like  manner,  the  purchase  of  bills 
is  to  be  made  from  the  same  source.  It  is  obvious  that  bills 
of  exchange,  under  these  conditions,  will  be  seldom  bought  or 
sold,  except  for  the  transfer  of  Government  funds  for  the  pub 
lic  use.  The  wants  of  the  Treasury,  we  may  well  conclude, 
are  not  likely  to  leave  much  to  be  turned  backward  and  for 
ward  for  mercantile  convenience. 

Now,  this  power  to  deal  in  exchange  existed  under  the  Sub- 
Treasury  quite  as  largely  as  it  could  exist  under  the  Exchequer. 
The  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  has  always  used  it  for  Govern 
ment  purposes,  as  a  necessary  incident  to  the  nature  of  his 
duties.  If  the  Government  has  money  in  New  York,  and  wishes 
it  in  Mobile,  the  Secretary  sells  a  bill  on  New  York  for  money 
in  Mobile  ;  or  he  buys  a  bill  on  Mobile  for  money  in  New  York. 
This  is  a  familiar  and  daily  operation,  and  is  but  an  exempli 
fication  of  the  power  conferred  by  the  Exchequer  bill. 

The  Exchequer  bill  superadds  to  this  power  a  dangerous 
modification  of  it :  it  authorizes  one  agency  to  draw  bills  on  any 
other  agency,  and  to  sell  them — this  operation  being  first  al 
lowed  by  the  board  of  control. 

The  effect  of  this  provision  would  be  to  permit  an  agency 
in  New  Orleans  to  make  and  sell  bills  upon  New  York  ;  thus 
enabling  that  agency,  if  fraudulently  disposed,  to  collect  large 
amounts  of  money  into  its  possession,  upon  bills  which  it  had 
no  authority  to  draw,  and  to  embezzle  the  amount  before  the 
board  of  control  could  possibly  detect  it.  In  this  point,  the 
Exchequer  presents  a  much  greater  risk  of  embezzlement 
and  abduction  of  the  public  funds  than  could  possibly  occur 
under  the  Sub-Treasury  ;  inasmuch  as  it  empowers  an  agent  to 
create  a  commodity — a  bill  of  exchange — which  he  may  sell  for 


FINANCE.  459 

money,  and  with  which  he  may  elope  before  detecting.  This 
is  an  enhancement  of  the  risk,  and  of  course  an  aggravation  of 
that  "  insecurity"  which  the  President,  in  his  message  at  the 
extra  session,  placed  so  prominently  before  the  country,  as 
one  of  the  causes  of  the  condemnation  of  the  Sub-Treasury. 

From  this  review  of  the  chief  characteristics  of  the  two 
schemes,  the  undersigned  is  persuaded  the  House  will  perceive 
but  little  in  the  proposed  plan  of  the  committee  to  reconcile 
them  to  the  objections  which  have  been  urged  against  the  Sub- 
Treasury.  He  might  ask,  what  consideration  of  public  good 
is  presented  in  this  bill,  to  relieve  it  from  the  condemnation 
pronounced  against  the  other ;  Would  the  Sub-Treasury  have 
been  rendered  palatable  to  the  nation,  if  it  had  embraced  the 
project  of  a  counterpart  representation,  in  paper,  of  the  coin 
it  required  for  public  dues  ?  Would  the  provision  to  take  pri 
vate  deposits  of  gold  and  silver  have  subdued  or  mitigated 
the  reluctance  of  the  country  to  the  measure — this  subtraction 
of  the  gold  and  silver  from  the  banks  being  one  of  the  deepest 
sources  of  dislike  to  it?  Unquestionably,  if  the  Sub-Treasury 
gave  room  to  apprehend,  from  its  tendency  to  hoard  up  coin, 
an  injurious  action  upon  the  metallic  basis  of  bank  circulation, 
that  argument  applies  with  greater  force  to  the  proposed  Ex 
chequer,  since  the  first  merely  received  the  precious  metals,  to 
return  them  immediately  back  to  circulation  in  public  payments ; 
while  the  latter  proposes  to  receive  these  metals  on  special 
deposit,  and  pledges  an  inviolable  retention  of  them  as  long 
as  their  paper  representative  can  be  kept  abroad. 

The  chief  objections  to  the  Sub-Treasury  may  be  summed 
up  in  the  following  terms  : 

The  political  cast  of  its  organization,  giving  to -eager  and 
obsequious  partisans  so  large  a  control  over  the  funds  of  the 
nation  ; 

The  insecurity  to  which  it  exposed  these  funds  from  fraud 
and  peculation  \ 

Its  exaction  of  coin  from  the  people,  and  the  withdrawal  of 
it  from  public  use  j 


460  POLITICAL    PAPERS. 

Its  power  over  the  best  banking  institutions  of  the  States  ; 
and,  finally, 

Insufficiency  to  supply  the  business  wants  of  the  peo- 
pie. 

None  of  these  objections,  in  the  opinion  of  the  undersign 
ed,  are  removed  by  the  plan  submitted  by  the  majority  of  the 
committee  ;  some  of  them  are  even  magnified. 

The  undersigned,  therefore,  is  compelled  utterly  to  reject 
this  plan  of  administering  the  fiscal  affairs  of  the  nation,  hold 
ing  it  to  be  altogether  insufficient,  mischievous,  and  already 
placed  under  the  stigma  both  of  Executive  denunciation  and 
popular  reproof. 

Greatly  before  this  does  he  prefer  that  scheme  of  a  Board 
of  Exchequer  which  the  President  of  the  United  States  has  pre 
sented  to  Congress  through  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  the 
consideration  of  which  has  also  been  referred  to  the  commit 
tee.  That  project  has,  at  least,  the  merit  of  proposing  the 
means  of  augmenting  the  circulating  medium  by  a  supply  ol 
Government  paper ;  which,  under  favorable  circumstances  of 
trade,  could  not  fail,  perhaps,  in  a  useful  degree,  to  aid  the 
money  operations  of  the  country.  It  is  constructed  with  skill, 
and  a  sagacious  reference  to  the  only  conditions  upon  which 
an  adequate  supply  of  paper  money  could  be  afforded  to  the 
nation.  It  professes  to  aim  at  the  equalization  of  exchange  ; 
and,  with  this  view,  proposes  to  establish  agencies  for  buying 
and  selling  bills,  with  the  exclusive  purpose  of  facilitating  com 
mercial  negotiations. 

It  embraces  two  very  important  principles  : 

The  first  is,  an  issue  of  Government  paper  to  an  amount 
of  three  to  one,  compared  with  the  specie  upon  which  it  was 
founded. 

The  second  is,  a  power  of  local  discounting,  under  the  name 
of exchange. 

Its  chief  defect  is  to  be  found  in  the  absence  of  a  capital 
adapted  to  these  two  functions. 

Deeming  the  evil  to  be  a  want  of  a  good  currency  sufficient- 


FINANCE.  46 1 

ly  abundant  for  common  use,  the  first  of  these  principles  noted 
above  is  incorporated  in  the  bill,  to  remove  that  evil  by  an  issue 
correspondent  to  the  demand. 

The  second  principle,  the  power  of  discounting,  is  designed 
to  promote  the  circulation  of  those  issues. 

The  President,  in  the  concoction  of  that  scheme,  seems  to 
have  been  conscious  of  the  fact  that  the  mere  disbursements 
of  the  Government  could  not  but  out  and  sustain  a  large  cir 
culation. 

Twenty-five  millions  of  annual  revenue  paid  out  to  public 
creditors,  in  Government  notes  based  upon  specie,  and  twenty- 
five  millions  always  receivable  during  the  year  in  the  same  me 
dium,  would  leave  but  a  small  part  of  the  whole  in  constant 
circulation  throughout  the  year — a  portion  too  inconsiderable 
to  effect  all  that  is  desired  in  a  reform  of  the  currency.  To  aid 
the  operation,  he  was  aware  that  discounting  in  some  form  was 
indispensable. 

If  the  design  be  to  emit  either  a  Government  or  bank  pa 
per,  in  such  quantity  as  to  leave  a  useful  residuum  for  circula 
tion,  there  are  but  two  modes  of  ushering  it  to  the  community  : 
it  must  be  either  paid  out  to  creditors,  or  loaned  out,  on  proper 
security,  to  borrowers.  When  the  receipts  are  equal  to  the 
payments,  the  first  mode  of  emission  will  be  insufficient.  To 
increase  the  amount  desired  to  be  kept  out,  it  will  then  be  ne 
cessary  to  provide  means  for  lending  it.  The  most  obvious  of 
these  means  is  supplied  by  exchanging  it  for  commercial  paper. 
In  the  discounting  of  a  bill  of  exchange,  the  Government  would 
find  an  occasion  for  issuing  an  additional  amount  of  its  notes, 
for  which  it  would  receive,  in  return,  the  avails  of  the  bill  dis 
counted,  in  specie,  from  the  acceptor. 

It  is  manifestly  under  the  influence  of  this  conviction  that 
the  President,  through  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  recom 
mends  the  power  of  local  discounting  contained  in  the  bill  he 
directed  to  be  prepared. 

Every  one  will  perceive  that  this  power  of  issue  and  of  dis 
count  constitutes  a  bank;  and  that  the  President's  plan,  there- 


462  POLITICAL    PAPERS. 

fore,  is  a  Government  bank,  constructed  with  a  view  primarily 
to  the  convenience  of  the  Treasury,  and  secondarily  to  the  ad 
vantage  of  commercial  speculation  and  adventure. 

The  principle  defect  of  this  plan,  as  the  undersigned  has  al 
ready  observed,  lies  in  its  want  of  capital.  So  striking  is  this 
defect,  that  any  one  who  reflects  upon  it,  and  has  noted  the  his 
tory  of  recent  events,  must  see  that  if  the  scheme  had  been  put 
in  operation  last  August,  it  would,  most  probably,  have  sus 
pended  payment  in  November — the  Government  in  that  inter 
val  not  having  been  able,  by  its  own  credit,  to  raise  money 
upon  its  own  stocks,  thrown  into  market  precisely  under  the 
circumstances  which  the  President's  bill  suggested  for  raising 
a  supply  of  specie  to  meet  the  demands  of  his  projected  bank. 
His  scheme,  therefore,  in  this  most  material  point,  is  singularly 
imperfect.  It  has  many  other  imperfections  of  less  note,  upon 
which  the  undersigned  will  not  stop  to  comment.  The  presen 
tation  of  such  a  measure  can  be  regarded  in  no  other  light  than 
the  acknowledgment,  from  a  high  authority  in  this  Govern 
ment,  of  the  indispensable  necessity  of  a  central  federal  insti 
tution,  clothed  with  the  most  important  of  the  ordinary  banking 
powers. 

Regarding  the  Executive  opinion  in  this  light,  and  assent 
ing  to  the  soundness  of  the  principle  to  which  it  refers,  the  un 
dersigned  had  some  hope  that  the  committee,  instead  of  sink 
ing  to  a  Sub-Treasury,  would  rather  have  risen  to  a  more  per 
fect  bank,  and  thus  have  responded  more  effectually  and  more 
satisfactorily  to  the  often-expressed  will  and  sober  convictions 
of  the  people — convictions  which,  however  they  may  have  been 
overborne  or  perverted  by  party  influences,  or  silenced  by  the 
empty  clamor  of  political  leaders,  have,  nevertheless,  abided  in 
the  minds  of  the  nation  with  undiminished  vigor,  and  been  free 
ly  uttered  as  often  as  a  cool  judgment  has  been  able  to  pre 
dominate  over  passion  and  prejudice. 

It  seemed  to  the  undersigned  to  be  due  to  the  Executive, 
when  thus  recanting  some  of  the  errors  of  his  past  opinions, 
and  adopting  the  more  congenial  sentiments  of  the  nation,  that 


FINANCE.  463 

the  committee  should  have  striven  to  amend  his  plan,  by  giv 
ing  it  a  more  effective  and  practical  tendency  in  the  direction 
he  indicated,  and  thus  have  offered  to  the  country  a  bank 
clothed  with  the  functions  which  the  President  has  admit 
ted  to  be  so  essential  to  the  public  interest,  and  free  of  the  de 
fects  which  are  apparent  in  the  structure  of  the  bill  he  has 
furnished  us. 

The  undersigned  will  endeavor  to  supply  this  omission  of 
the  committee.  To  do  this,  he  conceives  it  will  be  necessary 
to  strip  the  machine  offered  by  the  Executive  of  its  purely  polit 
ical  organization,  and  invest  it  with  a  character  which  shall 
exhibit,  in  mingled  proportions,  public  and  private  attributes 
— in  the  union  of  which  only,  he  conceives,  may  the  public  and 
private  functions  assigned  to  the  institution  be  adequately  per 
formed.  He  is  impelled  to  this  course,  not  only  by  a  sense  of 
the  expediency  of  such  a  union,  but  from  the  highest  convic 
tions  of  the  necessity  for  it,  imposed  by  the  Constitution. 

As  to  the  plan  of  the  bank  proposed  by  the  President,  in 
his  bill  for  establishing  the  Board  of  Exchequer,  the  under 
signed  is  obliged  to  say,  in  the  language  of  that  high  function 
ary  himself,  "  I  cannot  conscientiously  give  it  my  approval." 

In  the  first  place,  he  regards  it  as  an  attempt,  for  the  first 
time  made  in  this  country,  "  to  create  a  Government  bank  to 
operate  per  se  over  the  Union."  Upon  the  power  to  establish 
such  a  bank,  founded  exclusively  on  Government  funds,  and 
committed  to  the  management  of  Government  officers,  destined 
to  perform  the  ordinary  operations  of  receiving  private  depos 
its,  issuing  paper,  and  making  discounts,  the  undersigned  is 
not  aware,  until  the  presentation  of  the  bill,  that  any  portion 
of  the  citizens  of  this  republic  have  ever  entertained  "different 
or  conflicting  opinions."  It  is  a  new  attempt,  bold  in  its  de 
sign  and  dangerous  in  its  character ;  and  it  will  suffice  for  the 
undersigned  to  say,  in  the  words  of  that  high  authority  already 
quoted,  that  his  "  own  opinion  has  been  uniformly  proclaimed 
to  be  against  the  exercise  of  any  such  power  by  this  Govern 
ment." 


POLITICAL    PAPERS. 

In  the  second  place,  the-bill  provides  for  a  system  of  local 
discounting. 

"  It  may  justify  substantially,"  to  adopt  the  authoritative 
language  of  the  same  exalted  officer,  recorded  in  a  celebrated 
State  paper,  "a  system  of  discounts  of  the  most  objectionable 
character.  It  is  to  deal  in  bills  of  exchange  drawn  in  one  State 
and  payable  in  another,  without  any  restraint.  It  may,  in  fact, 
assume  the  most  objectionable  form  of  accommodation  paper. 
It  is  not  required  to  rest  on  any  actual  or  substantial  exchange 
basis :  a  drawer  in  one  place  becomes  the  acceptor  in  another, 
and  so,  in  turn,  the  acceptor  becomes  the  drawer,  upon  a  mu 
tual  understanding.  It  may,  at  the  same  time,  indulge  in  mere 
local  discounts,  under  the  name  of  bills  of  exchange." 

This  operation,  thus  accurately  described,  is  provided  for 
under  the  name  of  exchange  in  the  Executive  bill ;  and  the 
power  to  exercise  it  is  claimed  for  the  Government  itself,  in  a 
simple  machine  of  its  own,  constructed  for  the  purpose  of  col 
lecting,  safe  keeping,  and  disbursing  the  public  revenue.  The 
undersigned,  with  very  broad,  and  what  are  sometimes  called 
latitudinarian,  opinions  upon  the  construction  of  the  Constitu 
tion,  cannot  persuade  himself  to  sanction  this  remarkable  ultra- 
ism  of  interpretation.  He  is  willing  to  admit,  and  has,  in  fact 
always  admitted,  the  power  of  this  Government  to  establish  a 
joint-stock  bank,  whenever  Congress  has  deemed  such  an  in 
stitution  necessary  and  proper  to  the  collection  and  disburse 
ment  of  the  revenue.  And,  in  accordance  with  an  opinion 
generally  received,  especially  since  it  has  been  sanctioned  by 
the  judgment  of  the  Supreme  Court,  he  holds  it  altogether  with 
in  the  authority  of  Congress  to  clothe  such  bank  with  all  the 
capacities  necessary  to  its  prosperous  existence  while  it  is  em 
ployed  to  aid  the  Government  in  its  duties.  The  faculty  of  dis 
counting  notes  and  bills,  of  receiving  private  deposits,  and  of 
issuing  circulation,  being  an  indispensable  incident  to  its  pres 
ervation  and  success,  although  not  necessarily  a  part  of  the 
function  to  be  performed  for  the  Government,  is  yet  so  essen 
tial  to  the  existence  of  the  machine  as  to  be  brought  within  the 


FINANCE.  465 

power  of  Congress,  which,  without  such  power,  could  not  fur 
nish  the  Government  with  the  principal  and  paramount  facility 
of  the  bank  itself.  Upon  these  grounds  alone  has  the  exercise 
of  such  a  power  been  justified. 

But  when  the  government  proposes  to  construct  a  machine 
for  its  own  use  in  the  management  of  the  revenue,  the  vitality 
of  that  machine  is  wholly  independent  of  the  incidents  above 
referred  to  ;  and  thus  every  pretext  is  removed  which  could 
give  the  least  plausibility  to  the  excuse  for  usurping  a  power  to 
establish  a  purely  Government  bank,  with  the  privilege  of  local 
discounting  in  the  shape  of  exchange,  and  to  operate  per  se 
over  the  whole  Union.  • 

To  quote  again  from  the  same  high  source  of  instruction 
already  appealed  to,  the  undersigned,  "  without  going  further 
into  the  argument,  will  say  that,  in  looking  to  the  powers  of  this 
Government  to  collect,  safely  keep,  and  disburse  the  public 
revenue,  and  incidentally  to  regulate  the  commerce  and  ex 
changes,  he  has  not  been  able  to  satisfy  himself  that  the  es 
tablishment  by  this  Government  of  a  Government  bank  of  dis 
count,  in  the  ordinary  acceptation  of  that  term,  was  a  necessa 
ry  means,  or  one  demanded  by  propriety,  to  execute  those  pow 
ers.  What  can  the  local  discounts  of  the  bank  have  to  do  with 
the  collecting,  safe  keeping,  and  disbursing  of  the  revenue  ? 
So  far  as  the  mere  discounting  of  paper  is  concerned,  it  is  quite 
immaterial  to  this  question  whether  the  discount  is  obtained  at 
a  State  bank  or  a  United  States  bank.  They  are  both  equally 
local ;  both  beginning  and  ending  in  a  local  accommodation." 
The  Executive  goes  so  far  ahead  of  the  undersigned  in  latitu- 
dinous  construction  of  the  Constitution,  and  claims  the  exer 
cise  of  powers  so  novel,  and  even  perilous,  that  the  undersign 
ed  has  thought  it  his  duty  to  express  his  dissent  from  the  doc 
trine  asserted,  and  respectfully  to  protest  against  this  attempt, 
emanating  from  such  an  authoritative  source,  to  interpolate  a 
new  principle  in  the  Constitution,  so  hazardous  to  the  rights 
of  the  States,  and  tending  so  much  to  consolidation. 

In  the  last  place,  the  bill  of  the  President  incorporates  a 
2o'!: 


4(56  POLITICAL    PAPERS. 

most  objectionable  principle  in  its  requirement  of  the  assent  of 
the  States  to  enable  the  fiscal  agent  of  the  Government — his 
Board  of  Exchequer — to  perform  the  duties  which  the  national 
Legislature  is  invoked  to  say  are  necessary  and  proper  to  the 
regulation  of  the  national  concerns. 

The  introduction  of  this  principle  is  neither  more  nor  less 
than  the  affirmation  of  the  proposition,  that  the  consent  of  any 
one  or  of  all  the  States  is  capable  of  conferring  upon  the  na 
tional  Government  a  power  which  it  did  not  possess  before ; 
and  still  more,  that  any  one  or  all  of  the  States  may  obstruct 
the  operations  of  the  Government  in  a  sphere  of  action  which 
the  Constitution  allows  the  Government  to  occupy. 

This  doctrine,  in  one  aspect,  leads  so  directly  to  centrali 
zation  in  the  national  Government  of  powers  not  granted,  and, 
in  another  aspect,  tends  so  decidedly  to  anarchy  ;  is  so  sub 
versive  of  the  rights  of  the  States,  especially  of  that  right  which 
belongs  to  each  State  to  require  every  other  State  to  confine 
itself  to  its  own  orbit ;  is  so  fraught  with  mischief  to  the  har 
mony  of  the  national  laws  and  institutions,  that  it  ought  to  be 
discountenanced  at  the  first  moment  in  which  it  is  presented 
to  Congress.  It  is  a  supersubtle  abstraction — a  distillation  of 
other  abstractions — capable  of  no  imaginable  good,  but  only 
of  harm,  and  deserves  to  be  put  in  the  category  of  petitions  un 
der  the  twenty-first  rule.  The  undersigned  regrets  that  the 
same  principle,  with  even  less  show  of  justification  for  it,  is  in 
corporated  by  the  majority  of  the  committee  in  the  twelfth  sec 
tion  of  the  bill  they  have  reported  to  the  House. 

He  has  thus  very  cursorily  pointed  out  his  objections  to 
the  plan  submitted  by  the  Executive,  through  the  Secretary 
of  the  Treasury.  That  plan  professes  to  emanate  from  the 
President  and  his  constitutional  adviser.  Its  defects  are,  per 
haps,  the  result  of  the  difficulty  of  combining  the  contrarieties 
of  conflicting  opinion.  The  bill,  we  may  imagine,  has  sprung 
from  the  pressure  of  a  cabinet  necessity.  It  is  presumed  to  be 
a  treaty  between  variant  portions  of  the  Executive — the  best 
thing  that  could  be  done,  considering  the  consciences  of  the 


FINANCE.  467 

parties  who  produced  it.  This  will  sufficiently  account  for  its 
imperfections.  It  recognizes,  however,  a  great  and  valuable 
principle,  for  which  the  country  owes  the  Executive  its  thanks 
— the  principle  that  the  chief  relief  to  the  nation  is  to  be  ob 
tained  through  the  exercise  of  a  judiciously  contrived  and  ad 
ministered  federal  banking  power.  Happily  concurring  with 
the  Executive  in  this  opinion,  the  undersigned  feels  it  his  duty 
to  contribute  his  aid  towards  the  consummation  at  which  the 
Executive  has  aimed ;  and  persuaded  that  the  only  form  in 
which  the  Constitution  allows  the  Government  to  avail  itself 
of  the  powers  which  the  President  claims  for  it  is  to  be  found 
in  the  incoqDoration  of  a  national  bank,  and,  moreover,  con 
vinced  that  such  an  institution  presents  the  only  practicable 
mode  of  relieving  the  currency  and  restoring  to  the  business 
of  the  country  its  former  prosperity,  he  submits  with  this  re 
port  a  bill  for  the  establishment  of  a  bank,  on  such  conditions 
as  he  believes  may  be  rendered  instrumental  to  a  great  nation 
al  benefit.  He  conceives  the  present  time  to  be  eminently 
favorable  to  this  endeavor.  The  gross  abuses  everywhere  ap 
parent  in  the  banking  system,  the  fate  of  the  late  United  States 
Bank  of  Pennsylvania,  the  rapid  succession  of  catastrophes 
which  are  driving  the  worthless  institutions  of  the  country  out 
of  existence,  all  furnish  admonitions  from  which  Congress  and 
the  people  may  derive  the  greatest  profit,  in  the  establishment 
and  conduct  of  a  new  national  bank. 

We  may  hope  that  the  Executive,  whose  opinions  have  un 
dergone  so  important  a  change,  will  aid  in  this  beneficent  pur 
pose.  Professing  to  walk  in  the  light  afforded  him  by  the 
great  fathers  of  the  republican  school,  he  will  find  an  illustrious 
example,  to  encourage  his  footstep,  in  one  of  the  greatest  of  his 
predecessors,  who,  long  refusing  to  yield  the  convictions  of  his 
mind  to  the  advocacy  of  the  constitutional  right  to  establish  a 
bank,  was  taught,  at  last,  by  the  public  distress  in  a  disordered 
currency,  and  by  the  thickening  disasters  which  invaded  the 
workshops  and  broke  down  the  industry  of  the  people  ;  which 
stripped  the  laborer  of  the  pittance  of  his  daily  toil,  and  swept 


408  POLITICAL    PAPEKF. 

away  the  accumulations  of  years  of  prosperous  industry  from 
the  thousands  whom  fortune  had  favored — by  these  calamities, 
written  on  the  face  of  the  country,  he  was  taught  to  retract  an 
opinion  which  he  found  to  stand  in  the  way  of  the  public  wel 
fare  and  a  humane  discharge  of  his  great  office. 

The  Executive  may  read  now,  in  this  day,  on  the  face  of 
that  same  country,  the  same  misfortunes  more  indelibly  stamp 
ed,  marked  by  more  haggard  lines,  and  signified  by  deeper 
anguish  of  expression.  He  must  acknowledge  to  himself  the 
utter  failure  of  all  experiments  and  expedients  of  relief,  and 
realize  the  melancholy  truth  that  the  nation  plunges,  with  fear 
ful  precipitation,  from  worse  to  worse  ;  that  gloom  and  despond 
ency  are  fast  engendering  a  spirit  of  discontent,  which  may  not 
long  endure  without  aggravating  the  common  ills  of  the  day 
by  the  still  more  deplorable  affliction  of  disaffection  to  a  Gov 
ernment  which  many  begin  to  think  has  lost  its  paternal  regard 
in  cold  and  selfish  insulation.  Reflecting  on  these  unwelcome 
facts,  he  may  take  heart  of  grace  to  follow  that  glorious  ex 
ample  of  patriotic  magnanimity  to  which  we  have  invited  his 
study. 

To  present  him,  therefore,  with  the  same  opportunity  afford 
ed  to  his  predecessor  to  surrender  his  recent  opinions  upon  the 
altar  of  the  nation,  and  to  perform  the  same  grateful  duty  of 
restoring  the  prosperity  of  the  land,  the  undersigned  submits 
to  the  House,  with  this  report,  a  bill  "  to  incorporate  the  Na 
tional  Bank  of  the  United  States,"  hoping  that  it  will  find  favor 
with  Congress,  and  a  cheerful  support  from  the  Executive. 

The  undersigned,  in  offering  this  measure  to  the  considera 
tion  of  the  House  and  the  country,  cannot  withhold  the  ex 
pression  of  his  clear  conviction,  fortified,  as  he  knows  it  to  be, 
by  the  convictions  of  the  great  body  of  the  people,  that,  how 
ever  effective  a  bank  may  be  found  in  promoting  relief  from 
the  existing  embarrassments  of  the  nation,  it  must  be  disabled 
of  a  great  portion  of  its  usefulness,  unless  it  be  sustained  by 
an  instant  and  complete  revision  of  the  tariff.  The  bank  can  be 
but  the  minister  of  the  currency.  The  currency  itself  must  be 


FINANCE.  469 

created  by  the  national  means  devoted  to  the  payment  of  the 
national  debt.  It  must  be  guarded  and  preserved  by  a  steady 
and  efficient  revenue,  adequate  to  meet  the  engagements  of 
the  Government  without  the  aid  of  loans  or  paper  devices,  by 
which  timid  statesmen  procrastinate  a  day  of  reckoning.  To 
supply  such  revenue  is  the  first  and  great  duty  of  Congress. 
When  that  is  done,  the  value  of  a  bank  will  be  daily  acknowl 
edged  in  the  gratitude  of  the  people.  A  good  tariff  and  a  bank 
are  inseparable  elements  of  national  success  in  all  the  depart 
ments  of  industry.  Our  choice  lies  between  these  on  the  one 
hand,  and  funded  debt,  irredeemable  paper  money,  high-priced 
loans,  and  all  the  shifts  which  lead  to  national  dishonor  and  dis 
grace,  on  the  other.  The  country,  above  all  things,  desire 
that  Congress  would  make  an  immediate  choice  between  them. 
These  views  are  respectfully  and  earnestly  submitted  to  the 
House,  with  the  accompanying  bill. 

JOHN  P.  KENNEDY. 

A  bill  to  incorporate  the  subscribers  to  the  National  Bank  of  the 
United  States. 

Be  it  enacted  by  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  of 
the  United  States  of  America  in  Congress  assembled,  That  a  Na 
tional  Bank  of  the  United  States  shall  be  established  in  the 
District  of  Columbia,  with  a  capital  of  thirty  millions  of  dollars, 
divided  into  three  hundred  thousand  shares,  of  one  hundred 
dollars  each  share.  One  hundred  thousand  shares  shall  be 
subscribed  for  by  the  United  States,  and  the  residue  of  the 
said  capital  may  be  subscribed  and  paid  for  by  individuals, 
companies,  corporations,  or  States,  the  said  individuals  being 
citizens  of  the  United  States,  and  the  said  companies  and  cor 
porations  being  of  the  several  States,  or  of  these  United  States, 
or  Territories  thereof,  in  the  manner  hereinafter  specified. 
But  Congress  reserves  to  itself  the  power  of  augmenting  the 
capital  of  the  said  bank,  at  any  time  after  the  ist  of  January, 
1852,  by  authorizing  the  addition  thereto  of  a  sum  not  exceed 
ing  twenty  millions  of  dollars,  divided  into  shares  as  aforesaid, 


0  POLITICAL    PAPERS. 

which  may  be  subscribed  for,  at  not  less  than  their  par  value, 
by  the  United  States,  or  by  any  State,  corporation,  company, 
or  individuals,  in  the  manner  directed  by  law ;  Provided,  That 
the  United  States  shall  not  subscribe  for  more  than  one-third 
of  the  said  additional  capital. 

SEC.  2.  And  be  it  further  enacted.  That  subscriptions  for  the 
sum  of  twenty  millions  of  dollars,  towards  constituting  the 
capital  of  the  said  bank,  shall  be  opened  on  the  first  .Mon 
day  of  May  next,  at  the  following  places,  that  is  to  say :  at 
Washington,  in  the  District  of  Columbia  ;  at  Portland,  in  the 
State  of  Maine ;  at  Portsmouth,  in  the  State  of  New  Hamp 
shire  ;  at  Boston,  in  the  State  of  Massachusetts  ;  at  Providence, 
in  the  State  of  Rhode  Island  ;  at  Hartford,  in  the  State  of 
Connecticut;  at  Burlington,  in  the  State  of  Vermont;  at  New 
York,  in  the  State  of  New  York ;  at  New  Brunswick,  in  the 
State  of  New  Jersey ;  at  Philadelphia,  in  the  State  of  Penn 
sylvania  ;  at  Wilmington,  in  the  State  of  Delaware  ;  at  Balti 
more,  in  the  State  of  Maryland ;  at  Richmond,  in  the  State  of 
Virginia ;  at  Lexington,  in  the  State  of  Kentucky  ;  at  Cincin 
nati,  in  t»he  State  of  Ohio  ;  at  Raleigh,  in  the  State  of  North 
Carolina;  at  Nashville,  in  the  State  of  Tennessee  ;  at  Charles 
ton,  in  the  State  of  South  Carolina ;  at  Savannah,  in  the  State 
of  Georgia;  at  New  Orleans,  in  the  State  of  Louisiana;  at 
Indianapolis,  in  the  State  of  Indiana ;  at  Mobile,  in  the  State 
of  Alabama  ;  at  St.  Louis,  in  the  State  of  Missouri ;  at  Spring 
field,  in  the  State  of  Illinois  ;  at  Detroit,  in  the  State  of  Mich 
igan  ;  at  Natchez,  in  the  State  of  Mississippi ;  and  at  Little 
Rock,  in  the  State  of  Arkansas.  And  the  said  subscriptions 
shall  be  opened  under  the  superintendence  of  five  commis 
sioners  at  Washington  city,  and  of  three  commissioners  at  each 
of  the  other  places  aforesaid,  to  be  appointed  by  the  Secretary 
of  the  Treasury,  who  is  hereby  authorized  to  make  such  ap 
pointments,  and  shall  continue  open  every  day,  from  the  time 
of  opening  the  same,  between  the  hours  of  ten  o'clock  in  the 
forenoon  and  four  o'clock  in  the  afternoon,  for  the  term  of 
twenty  days,  exclusive  of  Sundays,  when  the  same  shall  be 


FINANCE.  4:71 

closed  ;  and  immediately  thereafter,  the  commissioners,  or  any 
two  of  them,  at  the  respective  places  aforesaid,  shall  cause  two 
transcrips  or  copies  of  such  subscriptions  to  be  made,  one  of 
which  they  shall  send  to  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  one 
they  shall  retain,  and  the  original  they  shall  transmit,  within 
seven  days  from  the  closing  of  the  subscriptions  as  aforesaid, 
to  the  commissioners  at  Washington  city.  And  on  the  receipt 
of  the  said  original  subscriptions,  or  either  of  the  said  copies 
thereof,  if  the  original  be  lost,  mislaid,  or  detained,  the  com 
missioners  at  Washington  aforesaid,  or  a  majority  of  them, 
shall  immediately  thereafter  convene,  and  proceed  to  take  an 
account  of  the  said  subscriptions  ;  and  if  more  than  the  amount 
of  twenty  millions  of  dollars  shall  have  been  subscribeb,  then 
the  said  last-mentioned  commissioners  shall  deduct  the  amount 
of  such  excess  from  the  largest  subscriptions,  in  such  manner 
as  that  no  subscription  shall  be  reduced  in  amount  while  any 
one  remains  larger :  Provided,  That  if  the  subscription  taken 
at  either  of  the  places  aforesaid  shall  not  exceed  two  thousand 
shares,  there  shall  be  no  reduction  of  such  subscriptions,  nor 
shall,  in  any  case,  the  subscriptions  taken  at  either  of  the 
places  aforesaid  be  reduced  below  that  amount.  And,  in  case 
the  aggregate  amount  of  the  said  subscriptions  shall  exceed 
twenty  millions  of  dollars,  the  said  last-mentioned  commission 
ers,  after  having  apportioned  the  same,  as  aforesaid  shall  cause 
lists  of  the  said  apportioned  subscriptions  to  be  made  out,  in 
cluding  in  each  list  the  apportioned  subscription  for  the  place 
where  the  original  subscription  was  made,  one  of  which  lists 
they  shall  transmit  to  the  commissioners,  or  one  of  them,  under 
whose  superintendence  such  subscriptions  were  originally 
made,  that  the  subscribers  may  thereby  ascertain  the  number 
of  shares  to  them  respectively  apportioned,  as  aforesaid  ;  and 
in  case  the  aggregate  amount  of  the  said  subscriptions  made 
during  the  period  aforesaid,  shall  not  amount  to  twenty  millions 
of  dollars,  the  subscriptions  to  complete  the  said  sum  shall  be 
and  remain  open  at  Washington  city,  aforesaid,  under  the  su 
perintendence  of  the  commissioners  appointed  for  that  place  ; 


47-}  POLITICAL    PAP  I  PS. 

and  the  subscriptions  may  be  then  made  by  any  individual, 
company,  corporation,  or  State,  for  any  number  of  shares,  not 
exceeding  in  the  whole  the  amount  required  to  complete  the 
said  sum  of  twenty  millions  of  dollars. 

SEC.  3.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  it  shall  be  lawful 
for  any  individual,  company,  corporation,  or  State,  when  the 
subscriptions  shall  be  opened  as  heretofore  directed,  to  sub 
scribe  for  any  number  of  shares  of  the  capital  of  the  said 
bank,  not  exceeding  two  thousand  five  hundred  shares ;  and 
that  the  sums  so  subscribed  shall  be  payable  and  paid  in  bul 
lion,  in  gold  or  silver  coin  of  the  United  States,  or  in  foreign 
coins  made  and  declared  current  in  the  United  States  by  the 
act  of  Congress  of  the  25th  of  June,  1834,  entitled  "  An  act 
regulating  the  value  of  certain  foreign  silver  coins  in  the  Uni 
ted  States,"  and  by  the  act  of  the  28th  of  June,  18^4,  entitled 
"  An  act  regulating  the  value  of  certain  gold  coins  within  the 
United  States,"  at  the  following  rates,  to  wit :  the  sovereign 
of  Great  Britain  at  ninety-four  cents  and  sixty-two  hundredths 
of  a  cent  for  each  pennyweight ;  (he  pieces  of  forty  and  twen 
ty  francs  of  France,  at  ninety-two  cents  and  ninety-two  hun 
dredths  of  a  cent  for  each  pennyweight  ;  the  doubloon  and 
parts  of  Spain,  at  eighty-nine  cents  and  fifty-one  hundredths 
of  a  cent  for  each  pennyweight  j  the  doubloon  and  parts  of 
Mexico,  at  eighty-nine  cents  and  fifty -one  hundredths  of  a 
cent  for  each  pennyweight ;  the  doubloon  and  parts  of  Peru, 
at  eighty- nine  cents  and  seventy-one  hundredths  of  a  cent 
for  each  pennyweight ;  the  doubloon  and  parts  of  Chili,  at 
eighty-nine  cents  and  seventy-one  hundredths  of  a  cent  for 
each  pennyweight;  the  doubloons  of  Bogota,  Colombia,  at 
eighty-nine  cents  and  ninety-two  hundredths  of  a  cent  for 
each  pennyweight ;  the  doubloons  of  Popayan,  Colombia,  at 
eighty-eight  cents  and  sixty-eight  hundredths  of  a  cent  for 
each  pennyweight;  the  doubloons  of  1837  and  1838  of  New 
Grenada,  at  ninety  cents  and  two  hundredths  of  a  cent  for 
each  pennyweight ;  the  doubloons  of  Bolivia,  at  eighty-nine 
cents  and  ninety-two  hundredths  of  a  cent  for  each  penny- 


FINANCE.  473 

weight ;  the  doubloons  of  Central  America,  at  eighty-five 
cents  and  seventy-nine  hundredths  of  a  cent  for  each  penny 
weight ;  the  doubloons  of  La  Plata,  at  eighty-four  cents  and 
twenty-four  hundredths  of  a  cent  for  each  pennyweight ;  the 
Johannes  and  half  of  Portugal,  at  ninety-four  cents  and  forty- 
six  hundredths  of  a  cent  for  each  pennyweight ;  the  crown 
(of  5,000  reis}  and  a  half,  since  1838,  of  Portugal,  at  ninety- 
four  cents  and  forty-six  hundredths  of  a  cent  for  each  penny 
weight ;  the  piece  (of  5,400  reis)  of  1838  of  Brazil,  at  ninety- 
four  cents  and  forty-six  hundredths  of  a  cent  for  each  penny 
weight  ;  and  in  foreign  silver  coins  at  the  value  fixed  upon 
them  severally  in  the  act  first  above  named,  or  in  Treasury  notes 
of  the  United  States,  or  in  certificates  of  stock  issued  under 
the  act  entitled  "  An  act  authorizing  a  loan  not  exceeding  the 
sum  of  twelve  millions  of  dollars,"  approved  July  2ist,  1841. 
And  the  payments  made  in  Treasury  notes  or  in  the  said  cer 
tificates  of  stock  shall  be  paid  and  received  at  the  par  value 
thereof,  including  all  interest  which  shall  have  accrued  thereon 
on  the  day  of  such  payment.  And  the  payments  of  the  said 
subscriptions  shall  be  made  and  completed  by  the  subscrib 
ers,  respectively,  at  the  time  and  in  the  manner  following,  that 
is  to  say  :  at  the  time  of  subscribing  there  shall  be  paid  ten 
dollars  on  each  share,  in  bullion,  in  gold  or  silver  coin,  in  the 
Treasury  notes  of  the  United  States,  or  in  the  said  certificates 
of  stock ;  and  twenty-five  dollars  more,  in  bullion,  in  coin, 
Treasury  notes,  or  certificates  of  stock,  as  aforesaid,  at  the  ex 
piration  of  three  calendar  months  from  the  first  Monday  in 
May,  1842  ;  and  there  shall  be  paid  the  further  sum  of  twen 
ty-five  dollars  on  each  share,  in  bullion,  in  gold  or  silver  coin, 
Treasury  notes,  or  certificates  of  stock,  as  aforesaid,  in  eight 
calendar  months  from  the  first  Monday  in  May,  1842  ;  and 
forty  dollars  more  in  bullion,  in  coin,  Treasury  notes,  or  cer 
tificates  of  stock,  as  aforesaid,  at  the  expiration  of  twelve  cal 
endar  months  from  the  said  first  Monday. 

SEC.  4.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  if,  in  consequence 
of  the  apportionment  of  the  shares  in  the  capital  of  the  said 


471  POLITICAL    PAPERS. 

bank  among  the  subscribers,  in  the  case  and  in  the  manner 
hereinbefore  provided,  any  subscriber  shall  have  delivered  to 
the  commissioners,  at  the  time  of  subscribing,  a  greater 
amount  of  bullion,  or  gold  or  silver  coin,  Treasury  notes,  or 
certificates  of  stock,  than  shall  be  necessary  to  complete  the 
payments  for  the  share  or  shares  of  such  subscribers,  appor 
tioned  as  aforesaid,  the  commissioners  shall  only  retain  so 
much  of  the  said  bullion,  or  gold  or  silver  coin,  Treasury 
notes,  or  certificates  of  stock,  as  shall  be  necessary  to  com 
plete  such  payments ;  and  shall,  forthwith,  return  the  surplus 
thereof,  on  application  for  the  same,  to  the  subscribers  law 
fully  entitled  thereto.  And  the  commissioners,  respectively, 
shall  deposit  the  bullion,  or  gold  and  silver  coin,  Treasury 
notes,  and  certificates  of  stock,  by  them  respectively  received 
as  aforesaid,  from  the  subscribers  to  the  capital  of  the  said 
bank,  in  some  place  of  secure  and  safe  keeping,  so  that  the 
same  may  and  shall  be  specifically  delivered  and  transferred, 
as  the  same  were  by  them  respectively  received,  to  the  Nation 
al  Bank  of  the  United  States,  or  to  their  order,  as  soon  as 
shall  be  required  after  the  organization  of  the  said  bank. 
And  the  said  commissioners  appointed  to  superintend  the  sub 
scriptions  to  the  capital  of  the  said  bank,  as  aforesaid,  shall 
receive  a  reasonable  compensation  for  their  services,  respect 
ively,  and  shall  be  allowed  all  reasonable  charges  and  ex 
penses  incurred  in  the  execution  of  their  trust,  to  be  paid  by 
the  bank  out  of  the  funds  thereof. 

SEC.  5.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  no  certificate  of 
stock,  or  any  subscription,  or  any  right  thereto,  shall  be  trans 
ferred,  except  by  operation  of  law,  until  after  the  whole  amount 
of  the  second  instalment  shall  have  been  fully  paid,  and  every 
contract  or  agreement  made  or  entered  into  for  the  transfer  of 
such  stock,  or  for  the  holding  the  same  in  trust  for  the  use  of 
any  other  person,  except  the  person  in  whose  name  it  is  sub 
scribed  in  the  books,  or  for  whose  use  it  is  therein  expressed, 
shall  be  wholly  and  absolutely  null  and  void  in  law.  That  it 
shall  be  lawful  for  the  president,  directors,  and  company  of  the 


FINANCE.  475 

said  bank,  to  sell  and  transfer,  for  gold  and  silver  coin,  or  bul 
lion,  Treasury  notes  and  certificates  of  stock  subscribed  to  the 
capital  of  the  said  bank,  as  aforesaid. 

SEC.  6  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That,  at  the  opening  of 
the  subscription  to  the  capital  stock  of  the  said  bank,  the  Sec 
retary  of  the  Treasury  shall  subscribe,  or  cause  to  be  sub 
scribed  on  behalf  of  the  United  States,  the  said  number  of  one 
hundred  thousand  shares,  amounting  to  ten  millions  of  dollars, 
as  aforesaid  :  which  said  subscriptions,  so  made  by  the  Secre 
tary  of  the  Treasury,  as  aforesaid,  shall  be  paid  in  bullion,  in 
gold  or  silver  coin,  or  in  stock  of  the  United  States,  bearing 
interest  at  the  rate  of  five  per  cent,  per  annum  ;  and  if  pay 
ment  thereof,  or  any  part  thereof,  be  made  in  public  stock, 
bearing  interest  as  aforesaid,  the  said  interest  shall  be  payable 
half  yearly,  to  commence  from  the  time  of  making  such  pay 
ments  on  account  of  the  said  subscription  ;  and  the  principal 
of  the  said  stock  shall  be  redeemable  in  any  sums  and  at  any 
periods  which  the  Government  shall  deem  fit,  after  the  expira 
tion  of  fifteen  years.  And  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  shall 
cause  certificates  of  public  stock,  to  the  amount  of  ten  mil 
lions  of  dollars,  to  be  prepared  and  made  in  the  usual  form, 
and  shall  at  his  discretion,  and  whensoever  he  shall  think  fit, 
sell  the  same  for  gold  or  silver  coin,  or  bullion,  at  not  less 
than  the  par  value  thereof,  or  he  shall  pay  over  and  deliver 
three  millions  five  hundred  thousand  dollars  of  the  same  to  the 
said  bank,  on  the  first  day  of  September,  eighteen  hundred  and 
forty-two,  and  two  millions  five  hundred  thousand  dollars  on 
the  first  day  of  January  eighteen  hundred  and  forty-three, 
and  four  millions  of  dollars  of  the  same  on  the  first  day  of 
May,  in  the  same  year ;  which  said  stock  it  shall  be  law 
ful  for  the  said  bank  to  sell  and  transfer,  for  gold  and  sil 
ver  coin,  or  bullion,  at  their  discretion.  And  if  the  Secretary 
of  the  Treasury  shall  sell  the  whole,  or  any  part  of  the  said 
stock,  he  shall  pay  to  the  said  bank  gold  and  silver  coin,  or 
bullion,  to  the  nominal  amount  of  stock  so  sold,  in  like  instal 
ments  :  Provided,  nevertheless.  That  if  the  amount  of  stock 


4-7  G  POLITICAL    PAPERS. 

which  may  be  offered  for  the  subscription  of  individuals' 
States,  or  corporations,  shall  not  be  fully  taken  prior  to  the 
thirtieth  of  August  next,  and  the  deficiency  do  not  exceed  or*e- 
third,  the  residue  shall  be  subscribed  for  by  the  Secretary  of 
the  Treasury,  on  behalf  of  the  United  States,  and  shall  be  sold 
by  him  as  soon  thereafter  as  he  can  obtain  its  par  value  ;  and 
for  which  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  is  hereby  authorized 
to  issue  stocks  of  the  United  States,  in  manner  as  before  pro 
vided. 

SEC.  7.  And  be  it  further  enacted.  That  the  subscribers  to 
the  said  bank,  their  successors  and  assigns,  shall  be,  and  they 
are  hereby,  created  a  corporation  and  body  politic,  by  the 
name  and  style  of  "  the  National  Bank  of  the  United  States," 
and  shall  so  continue  until  the  first  day  of  June,  in  the  year 
one  thousand  eight  hundred  and  sixty-two  ;  and  by  that  name 
shall  be,  and  are  hereby,  made  able  and  capable  in  law  to  have, 
purchase,  receive,  possess,  enjoy,  and  retain  to  them  and  their 
successors,  lands,  rents,  tenements,  hereditaments,  goods,  chat 
tels,  and  effects,  of  whatsoever  kind,  nature,  and  quality ;  and 
the  same  to  sell,  grant,  demise,  alien,  or  dispose  of;  to  sue 
and  be  sued,  plead,  and  be  impleaded,  answer  and  be  an 
swered,  defend  and  be  defended,  in  all  State  courts  having 
competent  jurisdiction,  and  in  any  circuit  court  of  the  United 
States ;  and  also  to  make,  have,  and  use  a  common  seal,  and 
the  same  to  break,  alter,  and  renew  at  their  pleasure  ;  and  also 
to  ordain,  establish,  and  put  into  execution,  such  by-laws  and 
ordinances  and  regulations  as  they  shall  deem  necessary  and 
convenient  for  the  government  of  the  said  corporation,  not  be 
ing  contrary  to  the  constitution  thereof,  or  to  the  laws  of  the 
United  States  ;  and  generally  to  do  and  execute  all  and  singu 
lar  the  acts,  matters,  and  things  which  to  them  it  shall  or  may 
appertain  to  do  ;  subject,  nevertheless,  to  the  rules,  regulations, 
restrictions,  limitations,  and  provisions,  hereinafter  prescribed 
and  declared. 

SEC.  8.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That,  for  the  management 
of  the  affairs  of  the  said  corporation,  there  shall  be  nine  direct- 


FINANCE.  4-77 

ors,  three  of  whom  shall  be  annually  appointed  by  the  President 
of  the  United  States,  by  and  with  the  advice  and  consent  of  the 
Senate,  and  six  of  whom  shall  be  annually  elected  at  the  banking- 
house  in  the  city  of  Washington,  on  the  first  Monday  of  Janu 
ary  in  each  year,  by  the  qualified  stockholders  of  the  capital 
of  said  bank,  other  than  the  United  States,  and  by  a  plurality 
of  votes  then  and  there  actually  given,  according  to  the  scale 
of  voting  hereinafter  prescribed  :  Provided,  always,  That  no 
member  of  Congress,  or  of  the  respective  State  Legislatures, 
and  no  officer  or  contractor  of  the  Federal  or  State  Govern 
ments,  shall  be  a  director  in  said  bank  or  branches,  and  that 
110  person  being  a  director  in  the  National  Bank  of  the  United 
States,  or  any  of  its  branches,  shall  be  a  director  of  any  other 
bank ;  and  should  any  such  director  act  as  a  director  in  any 
other  bank,  it  shall  forthwith  vacate  his  appointment  in  the  di 
rection  of  the  National  Bank  of  the  United  States ;  and  the 
directors  so  duly  appointed  and  elected  shall  be  capable  of 
serving,  by  virtue  of  such  appointment  and  choice,  from  the 
first  Monday  in  the  month  of  January  of  each  year,  until  the 
end  and  expiration  of  the  first  Monday  in  the  month  of  Janu 
ary  of  the  year  next  ensuing  the  time  of  each  annual  election, 
to  be  held  by  the  stockholders  as  aforesaid.  And  the  board 
of  directors  annually,  at  the  first  meeting  after  their  election  in 
each  and  every  year,  shall  proceed  to  elect  one  of  the  directors 
to  be  president  of  the  corporation,  who  shall  hold  the  said  of 
fice  during  the  same  period  for  which  the  directors  are  ap 
pointed  and  elected  as  aforesaid :  Provided,  also,  That  the  first 
appointment  and  election  of  the  directors  and  president  of  the 
said  bank  shall  be  at  the  time  and  for  the  period  hereinafter 
declared :  And  provided,  also,  That  in  case  it  should  at  any 
time  happen  that  an  appointment  or  election  of  directors,  or 
an  election  of  the  president  of  the  said  bank,  should  not  be  so 
made  as  to  take  effect  on  any  day  when,  in  pursuance  of  this 
act,  they  ought  to  take  effect,  the  said  corporation  shall  not 
for  that  cause  be  deemed  to  be  dissolved  ;  but  it  shall  be  law 
ful  at  any  other  time  to  make  such  appointments,  and  to  hold 


478  POLITICAL    PAPERS. 

such  elections  (as  the  case  may  be),  and  the  manner  of  hold 
ing  the  elections  shall  be  regulated  by  the  by-laws  and  ordi 
nances  of  the  said  corporation  ;  and  until  such  appointments 
or  elections  be  made,  the  directors  and  president  of  the  said 
bank  for  the  time  being  shall  continue  in  office  :  And  provided, 
also,  That  in  case  of  the  death,  resignation,  or  removal  of  the 
president  of  the  said  corporation,  the  directors  shall  proceed 
to  elect  another  president  from  the  directors  as  aforesaid ;  and 
in  case  of  the  death,  resignation,  or  absence  from  the  United 
States,  or  removal  of  a  director  from  office,  the  vacancy  shall 
be  supplied  by  the  President  of  the  United  States,  or  by  the 
surviving  directors,  as  the  case  may  be  ;  but  the  President  of 
the  United  States  alone  shall  have  power  to  remove  either  of 
the  directors  appointed  by  him  as  aforesaid. 

SEC.  9.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  as  soon  as  the  sum 
of  ten  dollars  on  each  share,  in  bullion,  gold  or  silver  coin, 
Treasury  notes  or  certificates  of  stock,  shall  have  been  actually 
received  on  account  of  the  subscriptions  to  the  capital  of  the 
said  bank  (exclusively  of  the  subscriptions  aforesaid  on  the 
part  of  the  United  States),  notice  thereof,  shall  be  given,  by 
the  persons  under  whose  superintendence  the  subscriptions 
shall  have  been  made  at  the  city  of  Washington,  in  at  least  two 
newspapers  printed  in  each  of  the  places  (if  so  many  be  print 
ed  in  such  places,  respectively)  where  subscriptions  shall  have 
been  made ;  and  the  said  persons  shall,  at  the  same  time,  and 
in  like  manner,  notify  a  time  and  place,  within  the  said  city  of 
Washington,  at  the  distance  of  at  least  thirty  days  from  the 
time  of  such  notification,  for  proceeding  to  the  election  of  six 
directors,  as  aforesaid  ;  and  it  shall  be  lawful  for  such  election 
to  be  then  and  there  made.  And  the  President  of  the  United 
States  is  hereby  authorized,  if  Congress  be  then  in  session,  and 
if  not  in  session  then  as  soon  thereafter  as  Congress  may  be  in 
session,  to  nominate,  and,  by  and  with  the  advice  and  consent  of 
the  Senate,  to  appoint  three  directors  of  the  said  bank,  whether 
they  be  stockholders  or  not  any  thing  in  the  provisions  of  this 
act  to  the  contrary  notwithstanding  ;  and  the  persons  who  shall 


FINANCE.  479 

be  elected  and  appointed,  as  aforesaid,  shall  be  the  directors  of 
the  said  bank  and  shall  proceed  to  elect  one  of  the  directors  to 
be  president  of  the  said  bank  ;  and  the  directors  and  president 
of  the  said  bank,  so  appointed  and  elected  as  aforesaid,  shall  be 
capable  of  serving  in  their  respective  offices,  by  virtue  thereof, 
until  the  end  and  expiration  of  the  first  Monday  of  the  month  of 
January  next  ensuing  the  said  appointments  and  election  :  Pro 
vided,  That  it  shall  and  may  be  lawful  for  the  President  of  the 
United  States,  as  soon  as  ten  dollars  on  each  share  are  paid,  in 
manner  herein  provided,  to  appoint  three  directors,  who  shall 
serve  until  they  are  superseded  by  appointments  made  by  the 
President  of  the  United  States,  by  and  with  the  advice  and  con 
sent  of  the  Senate,  as  hereinbefore  provided  :  And  provided  fur 
ther,  That  as  soon  the  sum  of  six  millions  five  hundred  thou 
sand  dollars,  in  bullion,  gold  or  silver  coin,  or  in  Treasury  notes, 
or  certificates  of  stock,  shall  have  been  actually  received  on  ac 
count  of  the  subscriptions  to  the  capital  of  the  said  bank,  (ex 
clusively  of  the  subscription  often  millions  aforesaid  on  the  part 
of  the  United  States),  the  operations  of  the  same  shall  thence 
forth  commence  and  continue  at  the  city  of  Washington. 

SEC.  10.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  the  directors  for  the 
time  being  shall  have  power  to  appoint  such  officers,  clerks, 
and  servants,  under  them,  as  shall  be  necessary  for  executing 
the  business  of  the  said  corporation,  and  to  allow  them  such 
compensation  for  their  services,  respectively,  as  shall  be  rea 
sonable  ;  and  shall  be  capable  of  exercising  such  other  powers 
and  authorities,  for  the  well-governing  and  ordering  of  the  af 
fairs  of  the  said  corporation,  as  shall  be  prescribed,  fixed,  and 
determined  by  the  by-laws,  regulations,  and  ordinances  of  the 
same. 

SEC.  ii.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  the  following  rules, 
restrictions,  limitations,  and  provisions,  shall  form  and  be  fun 
damental  articles  of  the  constitution  of  said  corporation,  to  wit : 

i st.  The  number  of  votes  to  which  the  stockholders  shall 
be  entitled,  in  voting  for  directors,  shall  be  according  to  the 
number  of  shares  he,  she,  or  they,  respectively,  shall  hold,  in 


480  POLITICAL    PAPERS. 

the  proportions  following,  that  is  to  say  :  for  one  share,  and  not 
more  than  two  shares,  one  vote  ;  for  every  two  shares  above 
two,  and  not  exceeding  ten,  one  vote  ;  for  every  four  shares 
above  ten,  and  not  exceeding  thirty,  one  vote  ;  for  every  six 
shares  above  thirty,  and  not  exceeding  sixty,  one  vote  ;  for  every 
eight  shares  above  sixty,  and  not  exceeding  one  hundred,  one 
vote  ;  for  every  ten  shares  above  one  hundred,  one  vote  ;  but  no 
person,  copartnership,  or  body  politic,  shall  be  entitled  to  a 
greater  number  than  sixty  votes  ;  and,  after  the  first  election, 
no  share  or  shares  shall  confer  a  right  of  voting,  which  shall 
not  have  been  holden  three  calendar  months  previous  to  the 
day  of  election  ;  no  proxy  to  any  officer  of  the  bank,  or  of  more 
than  ninety  days'  standing,  shall  be  valid  ;  no  proxy  shall  have 
a  right  to  give  more  than  three  hundred  votes ;  and  stockhold 
ers  actually  resident  citizens  of  the  United  States,  and  none 
others,  may  vote  in  elections,  by  proxy  or  otherwise  ;  and  any 
person  holding  a  proxy  may  be  required  by  any  stockholder,  at 
the  time  of  voting,  to  make  oath  that  he  believes  his  principal, 
in  whose  behalf  he  votes,  to  be  the  bona  fide  holder  of  the  share 
or  shares,  and  that  no  sale  or  transfer  has  been  made  for  the 
purpose  of  evading  the  scale  of  voting  established  by  this  act. 

2d.  Not  more  than  five-sixths  of  the  directors  elected  by  the 
stockholders,  who  shall  be  in  office  at  the  time  of  an  annual 
election,  shall  be  elected  for  the  succeeding  year ;  and  no  di 
rector  shall  hold  his  office  for  more  than  five  years  out  of  six 
in  succession  ;  but  the  director  who  shall  be  President  at  the 
time  of  an  election  may  always  be  reappointed,  or  selected,  as 
the  case  may  be. 

3d.  None  but  a  stockholder,  resident  citizen,  shall  be  a  di 
rector.  Not  more  than  two  directors  shall  be  elected,  and  not 
more  than  one  appointed,  out  of  any  one  State  ;  and  they  shall 
be  paid  by  said  bank  such  reasonable  compensation  for  their  ser 
vices  as  the  stockholders,  at  their  annual  meeting,  shall  direct ; 
but  the  salary  of  the  president  shall  be  fixed  by  the  directors. 

4th.  Not  less  than  five  directors  shall  constitute  a  board 
for  the  transaction  of  business,  of  whom  the  president  shall  al- 


FIXAXCK.  481 

ways  be  one  ;  and  at  least  three  of  the  five  shall  be  of  the  di 
rectors  elected  by  the  stockholders ;  and  in  case  of  sickness 
or  necessary  absence  of  the  president,  his  place  shall  be  sup 
plied  by  any  other  director  whom  he,  by  writing,  under  his 
hand,  shall  depute  for  that  purpose  ;  and  the  director  so  depu 
ted  may  do  and  transact  all  the  necessary  business  belonging 
to  the  office  of  the  president  of  the  said  corporation,  during  the 
continuance  of  the  sickness  or  necessary  absence  of  the  pres 
ident. 

5th.  A  number  of  stockholders,  not  less  than  sixty,  who, 
together,  shall  be  proprietors  of  one  thousand  shares  or  upwards, 
shall  have  power  at  any  time  to  call  a  general  meeting  of"  the 
stockholders,  for  purposes  relative  to  the  institution,  giving  at 
least  four  weeks'  notice  in  the  public  newspapers  of  the  place 
where  the  bank  is  seated,  and  specifying  in  such  notice  the  ob 
ject  or  objects  of  such  meeting. 

6th.  Each  cashier  or  treasurer,  before  he  enters  upon  the 
duties  of  his  office,  shall  be  required  to  give  bond,  with  two  or 
more  sureties,  to  the  satisfaction  of  the  directors,  in  a  sum  not 
less  than  fifty  thousand  dollars,  with  a  condition  for  his  good 
behavior,  and  the  faithful  performance  of  his  duties  to  the  cor 
poration. 

7th.  The  lands,  tenements,  and  hereditaments,  which  it 
shall  be  lawful  for  the  said  corporation  to  hold,  shall  be  only 
such  as  shall  be  requisite  for  its  immediate  accommodation,  in 
relation  to  the  convenient  transaction  of  its  business,  and  such  as 
shall  have  been  purchased  at  sales  upon  judgments  or  decrees, 
or  shall  have  been  assigned  or  set  off  to  said  bank  in  satisfac 
tion  of  said  judgments  or  decrees,  which  shall  have  been  obtain 
ed  for  debts  due,  or  as  have  been  bona  fide  mortgaged  to  it  by 
way  of  security :  Provided,  That  no  loan  shall  be  made  on  se 
curity  of  real  estate ;  nor  shall  the  said  corporation  hold  any 
one  parcel  of  such  lands  or  tenements,  not  necessary  for  the 
convenient  transaction  of  its  business,  for  a  longer  period  than 
five  years. 

8th.  The  total  amount  of  debts  which  the  said  corporation 
21 


482  POLITICAL    PAPERS. 

shall  at  any  time  owe,  whether  by  bond,  bill,  note,  or  other 
contract,  over  and  above  the  debt  or  debts  due  for  money  de 
posited  in  the  bank,  shall  not  exceed  the  sum  of  twenty-five  mil 
lions  of  dollars,  unless  the  contracting  of  any  greater  debt  shall 
have  been  previously  authorized  by  law.  In  case  of  excess, 
the  directors  under  whose  administration  it  shall  happen  shall 
be  liable  for  the  same,  in  their  natural  and  private  capacities  ; 
and  an  action  of  debt  may,  in  such  case,  be  brought  against 
them,  or  any  of  them,  their  or  any  of  their  heirs,  executors,  or 
administrators,  in  any  court  of  record  of  the  United  States,  by 
any  creditor  or  creditors  of  the  said  corporation,  and  may  be 
prosecuted  to  judgment  and  execution,  any  condition,  covenant, 
or  agreement,  to  the  contrary  notwithstanding ;  but  this  provis 
ion  shall  not  be  construed  to  exempt  the  said  corporation,  or 
the  lands,  tenements,  goods,  or  chattels  of  the  same,  from  being 
also  liable  for,  and  chargeable  with,  the  said  excess.  Such  of 
the  said  directors  as  may  have  been  absent  when  the  said  ex 
cess  was  contracted  or  created,  or  who  may  have  dissented 
from  the  resolution  or  act  whereby  the  same  was  so  contracted 
or  created,  may  respectively  exonerate  themselves  from  being 
so  liable,  by  forthwith  giving  notice  of  the  fact,  and  of  their  ab 
sence  or  dissent,  to  the  President  of  the  United  States,  and 
to  the  stockholders,  at  a  general  meeting,  which  they  shall  have 
power  to  call  for  that  purpose. 

9th.  The  said  corporation  shall  not  directly  or  indirectly 
deal  or  trade  in  any  thing  except  bills  of  exchange,  gold  or  sil 
ver  coin,  or  bullion,  or  goods,  or  lands  purchased  on  execution, 
sued  out  on  judgments,  or  decrees  obtained  for  the  benefit  of 
said  bank,  or  taken  bona  fide  in  the  payment  of  debts  due  to 
it,  or  goods  which  shall  be  the  proceeds  of  its  lands.  It  shall 
not  be  at  liberty  to  purchase  any  public  debt  whatever,  nor 
make  any  loan  upon  the  pledge  thereof,  nor  shall  it  take  more 
than  at  the  rate  of  six  per  centum  per  annum  for  or  upon  its 
loans  or  discounts  ;  nor  shall  the  board  of  directors  of  the  said 
corporation  make  donations  or  presents  of  its  funds  to  any  of 
ficer  or  director,  for  any  purpose  whatever. 


FINANCE.  483 

i  oth.  No  loan  shall  be  made  by  the  said  corporation,  for 
the  use  or  on  account  of  the  Government  of  the  United  States, 
to  an  amount  exceeding  one  million  of  dollars,  nor  for  any  pe 
riod  exceeding  one  hundred  and  eighty  days,  or  on  account  of 
any  particular  State,  to  an  amount  exceeding  one  hundred 
thousand  dollars,  or  for  any  period  exceeding  one  hundred  and 
eighty  days,  unless  previously  authorized  by  a  law  of  the  United 
States. 

nth.  The  stock  of  the  said  corporation  shall  be  assignable 
and  transferable,  according  to  such  rules  as  shall  be  instituted, 
in  that  behalf,  by  the  by-laws  and  ordinances  of  the  same. 

1 2th.  The  bills  obligatory  and  of  credit  under  the  seal  of 
the  said  corporation,  which  shall  be  made  to  any  person  or 
persons,  shall  be  assignable  by  endorsement  thereupon,  under 
the  hands  of  such  person  or  persons,  and  his,  her,  or  their  ex 
ecutors  or  administrators,  and  of  his,  her,  or  their  assignee  or 
assignees,  and  so  as  absolutely  to  transfer  and  vest  the  proper 
ty  thereof  in  each  and  every  assignee  or  assignees,  success 
ively  ;  and  to  enable  such  assignee  assignees,  and  his,  her,  or 
their  executors  or  administrators,  to  maintain  an  action  there 
upon,  in  his,  her  or  their  own  name  or  names :  Provided,  That 
said  corporation  shall  not  make  any  bill  obligatory,  or  of  credit, 
or  other  obligation  under  its  seal,  for  the  payment  of  a  sum  less 
than  five  thousand  dollars,  or  for  a  longer  period  than  one 
year. 

i3th.  All  bills  or  notes  issued  by  order  of  the  said  corpo 
ration,  signed  by  the  president  and  countersigned  by  the  prin 
cipal  cashier  or  treasurer  thereof,  promising  the  payment  of 
money  to  any  person  or  persons,  his,  her,  or  their  order,  or  to 
bearer,  although  not  under  the  seal  of  the  said  corporation, 
shall  be  binding  and  obligatory  upon  the  same,  in  like  manner 
and  with  like  force  and  effect  as  upon  any  natural  person  or 
persons,  if  issued  by  him,  her,  or  them,  in  his,  her,  or  their  pri 
vate  or  natural  capacity  or  capacities,  and  shall  be  assignable 
and  negotiable  in  like  manner  as  if  they  were  so  issued  by  such 
natural  person  or  persons  ;  that  is  to  say  :  those  which  shall  be 


48-4 


POLITICAL    PAPERS. 


payable  to  any  person  or  persons,  his,  her,  or  their  order,  shall 
be  assignable  by  endorsement,  in  like  manner  and  with  the  like 
effect  as  foreign  bills  of  exchange  now  are ;  and  those  which 
are  payable  to  bearer  shall  be  assignable  and  negotiable  by 
delivery  only :  Provided,  That  all  bills  or  notes  so  to  be  issued 
by  said  corporation  shall  be  made  payable  on  demand. 

i4th.  Half  yearly  dividends  may  be  made  of  so  much  of 
the  profits  of  the  bank  as  shall  appear  to  the  directors  advisa 
ble,  not  exceeding  four  per  centum  for  any  one  half  year.  When 
a  surplus  beyond  that  limit  shall  have  accumulated  in  the  said 
bank  to  an  amount  exceeding  two  millions  of  dollars,  the  excess 
beyond  that  sum  and  beyond  the  annual  dividends,  as  such  ex 
cess  accrues,  shall  be  annually  transferred  and  paid  over  to  the 
Treasury  of  the  United  States  ;  and  upon  the  expiration  of  this 
charter,  any  surplus  which  may  be  in  the  said  bank,  after  the 
payment  of  dividends  as  aforesaid,  and  after  reimbursing  the 
capital  of  the  stockholders,  shall  in  like  manner  be  paid  into 
the  Treasury  of  the  United  States.  If  the  dividends  shall, 
in  any  half  year,  fall  below  the  above  limitation  of  four  per  cen 
tum,  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  shall,  out  of  the  surpluses 
which  shall  have  been  previously  paid  over  to  the  Treasury,  but 
out  of  no  other  funds  or  money  in  the  Treasury  of  the  United 
States,  pay  a  sum  sufficient  to  make  up  the  deficiency.  The 
directors  shall  make  no  dividends  except  from  the  nett  profits 
arising  from  the  business  of  the  corporation,  and  shall  not,  at 
any  time,  or  in  any  manner,  pay  to  the  stockholders,  or  any 
of  them,  any  part  of  the  capital  stock  of  the  said  corporation  ; 
nor  shall  they  at  any  time,  or  in  any  way  or  manner,  reduce 
the  capital  stock  of  the  said  corporation  without  the  consent 
of  Congress ;  nor  shall  the  said  directors,  either  of  the  said 
principal  bank  or  of  any  branch  or  office  of  discount  and  depos 
it,  or  any  agency,  discount,  or  suffer  to  be  discounted,  or  re 
ceive  in  payment,  or  suffer  to  be  received  in  payment,  any  note 
or  other  evidence  of  debt,  as  a  payment  of  or  upon  any  instal 
ment  of  the  said  capital  stock  actually  called  for  and  required 
to  be  paid  or  with  the  intent  of  providing  the  means  of  making 


FINANCE.  485 

such  payment ;  nor  shall  any  of  the  said  directors  receive  or  dis 
count,  or  suffer  to  be  received  or  discounted,  any  note  or  other 
evidence  of  debt,  with  intent  of  enabling  any  stockholder  to 
withdraw  any  part  of  the  money  paid  in  by  him  on  his  stock  ; 
nor  shall  the  said  directors  apply,  or  suffer  to  be  applied,  any 
portion  of  the  funds  of  the  said  corporation,  directly  or  indirect 
ly  to  the  purchase  of  shares  of  its  own  stock ;  nor  shall  the 
said  directors,  or  any  of  them,  receive  as  a  security  for  any  loan 
or  discount,  or  in  payment  or  satisfaction  of  any  debt  due  to 
the  said  corporation,  except  in  the  necessary  course  of  collec 
tion  of  debts  previously  contracted  in  a  bona  fide  manner  in  the 
ordinary  course  of  its  banking  operations,  and  actually  due  and 
unpaid,  any  shares  of  the  capital  stock  of  the  said  corporation  ; 
and  any  shares  of  the  said  capital  stock  so  received  in  payment 
of  any  such  debts  shall  be,  in  good  faith,  sold  and  transferred 
from  the  hands  and  ownership  of  the  said  corporation  within 
ten  months  from  the  time  of  its  transfer  to  and  reception  by 
the  same,  in  the  manner  and  for  the  purposes  aforesaid  ;  nor 
shall  the  said  directors,  or  any  of  them,  receive  from  any  other 
banking  or  other  stock  corporation,  shares  of  the  stock  of  any 
such  banking  or  other  stock  corporation,  or  any  notes,  bonds,  or 
other  evidences  of  debt  issued  by  or  upon  the  credit  of  such 
corporation,  in  exchange  for  the  shares  of  stock,  notes,  bonds, 
or  other  evidences  of  debt  of  the  corporation  created  by  this  act. 
And  the  said  directors,  in  determining  what  are  "  nett  pro 
fits"  of  the  said  corporation,  from  which  the  dividends  allowed 
by  this  article  may  be  made,  shall  first  deduct  from  the  profits 
of  the  business  of  the  said  corporation  all  expenses  paid  or  in 
curred,  both  ordinary  and  extraordinary,  attending  the  man 
agement  of  the  affairs  and  the  transaction  of  the  business  of  the 
said  corporation ;  all  interest  paid,  or  then  accrued,  due  and 
unpaid,  on  debts  owing  by  the  said  corporation  ;  and  all  losses 
sustained  by  the  said  corporation  ;  and  in  the  computation  of 
of  such  losses,  all  debts  owing  to  the  corporation  shall  be  in 
cluded  which  shall  have  remained  due,  without  prosecution, 
and  no  interest  shall  have  been  paid  thereon,  for  more  than  one 


486  POLITICAL    PAPERS. 

year ;  or  on  which  judgments  shall  have  been  recovered  that 
shall  have  remained  for  more  than  two  years  unsatisfied,  and 
on  which  no  interest  shall  have  been  paid  during  that  period. 
If  there  shall  be  a  failure  in  the  payment  of  any  part  of  any  sum 
subscribed  to  the  capital  of  the  said  bank,  the  stockholder  so 
delinquent  shall  lose  the  benefit  of  any  dividend  which  may 
have  accrued  prior  to  the  time  of  making  such  payment,  and 
during  the  delay  of  the  same. 

i5th.  Once  in  every  year  the  directors  shall  lay  before  the 
stockholders,  at  a  general  meeting,  or  publish  for  their  infor 
mation,  an  exact  and  particular  statement  of  the  debts  which 
shall  remain  unpaid  after  the  expiration  of  the  original  credit, 
and  of  the  surplus  of  the  profits,  if  any,  after  deducting  losses 
and  dividends. 

i6th.  The  directors  of  the  said  corporation  shall  establish 
one  competent  office  of  discount  and  deposit  in  any  State  in 
which  two  thousand  shares  shall  have  been  subscribed  or  may 
be  held,  whenever,  upon  application  of  the  Legislature  of  such 
State,  Congress  may  by  law  require  the  same.  And  the  said 
directors  may  also  establish  one  or  more  competent  offices  of 
discount  and  deposit  in  any  State,  Territory,  or  district  of  the 
United  States,  and  shall  have  power  to  commit  the  manage 
ment  of  the  said  offices  and  the  business  thereof,  respectively, 
to  such  persons,  and  under  such  regulations,  as  they  may  deem 
proper,  not  being  contrary  to  law  or  to  this  charter.  Or,  in 
stead  of  establishing  such  offices,  it  shall  be  lawful  for  the 
directors  of  the  said  corporation,  from  time  to  time,  to  employ 
any  agent  or  agents,  or  any  other  bank  or  banks,  to  be  approved 
by  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  at  any  place  or  places  that 
the  said  directors  may  deem  safe  and  proper,  to  manage  and 
transact  the  business  proposed  as  aforesaid,  other  than  for  the 
purposes  of  discount,  and  to  perform  the  duties  hereinafter  re 
quired  of  the  said  corporation,  to  be  managed  and  transacted  by 
such  offices,  under  such  agreements  and  subject  to  such  regula 
tions  as  they  shall  deem  just  and  proper.  Not  more  than  nine 
nor  less  than  five  managers  or  directors  of  every  office,  estab- 


FINANCE.  48  7 

lished  as  aforesaid,  shall  be  annually  appointed  by  the  direc 
tors  of  the  said  corporation,  to  serve  one  year.  The  said  man 
agers  or  directors  shall  choose  a  president  from  their  own  num 
ber  ;  they  shall  be  citizens  of  the  United  States,  and  residents 
of  the  State,  Territory,  or  District,  wherein  such  office  is  estab 
lished  ;  and  at  least  one  of  the  said  managers  or  directors  shall 
be  ineligible  to  reappointment  at  the  end  of  every  first  and 
each  succeeding  year  :  but  the  president  may  be  always  reap- 
pointed. 

i7th.  The  officer  at  the  head  of  the  Treasury  Department 
of  the  United  States  shall  be  furnished  from  time  to  time,  as 
often  as  he  may  require,  not  exceeding  once  a  week,  with  such 
statements  of  the  condition  and  business  of  said  corporation 
as  he  may  specially  direct ;  and  he  shall  also  have  a  right  to 
inspect,  or  cause  to  be  inspected,  by  some  one  by  him  duly 
authorized,  all  the  books,  papers,  and  accounts  of  the  said  cor 
poration,  of  every  kind,  including  the  accounts  of  individuals, 
and  to  make,  or  cause  to  be  made,  an  examination  into  the  af 
fairs,  transactions,  and  condition  of  the  corporation  \  and  the 
condition  of  the  banlc  shall  be  published  monthly,  in  such  man 
ner  and  with  such  particularity  as  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury 
shall  direct.  And  the  said  bank,  and  its  offices  of  discount 
and  deposit,  shall  be  open  at  all  times  to  the  full  and  unre 
stricted  inspection  and  examination  of  a  committee  of  either 
House  of  Congress,  a  committee  of  the  stockholders,  and  to 
each  and  all  of  the  directors  of  the  bank.  And,  for  the  pur 
pose  of  securing  a  full  and  unrestricted  inspection  and  exam 
ination  as  aforesaid,  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  or  any  one 
by  him  duly  authorized,  or  a  committee  of  either  House  of  Con 
gress,  may  respectively  summon  and  examine,  under  oath,  all 
the  directors,  officers,  or  agents  of  the  said  corporation,  and  of 
any  branch  or  agency  thereof,  and  such  other  witnesses  as  they 
may  think  proper,  in  relation  to  the  affairs,  transactions,  and 
condition  of  the  corporation  ;  and  any  such  director,  officer, 
agent,  or  other  person,  who  shall  refuse,  without  justifiable  cause, 
to  appear  and  testify  when  thereto  required,  as  aforesaid,  shall, 


488  POLITICAL    PAPERS. 

on  conviction,  be  subject  to  a  fine  not  exceeding  one  thousand 
dollars,  and  imprisonment  for  a  term  not  exceeding  one  year. 
And  upon  the  question  of  any  loan  or  discount  exceeding  one 
thousand  dollars,  where  the  same  is  granted,  if  any  member 
shall  dissent,  the  vote  shall  be  taken  by  ayes  and  noes,  and 
shall  be  entered  en  the  books  of  the  bank,  and  be  subject  to 
the  same  inspection  as  the  other  proceedings  of  said  bank  ;  and 
no  part  of  the  proceedings  of  the  bank,  nor  any  loans,  discounts, 
or  payments  made  by  it,  nor  any  order  given  by  it,  shall  be  con 
cealed  or  kept  secret  from  the  Government  directors,  nor  shall 
said  directors  be  excluded  from  the  free  and  full  participation 
in  all  the  transactions  and  business  of  the  institution. 

1 8th.  No  note  shall  be  issued  of  a  less  denomination  than 
five  dollars  ;  but  Congress  may  hereafter,  if  it  shall  think  fit, 
restrain  the  lowest  denomination  of  notes  to  ten  dollars  ;  nor 
shall  the  said  bank,  knowingly,  increase  the  amount  of  the  debts 
due  to  it,  when  the  notes  in  circulation  exceed  three  times  the 
amount  of  specie  in  its  vaults  :  and  whenever  such  excess  takes 
place,  it  shall  be  the  duty  of  the  said  corporation  to  return  to 
such  proportion  as  speedily  as  shall  be  safe  and  practicable. 

1 9th.  The  debts  due  and  becoming  due  to  said  bank  shall 
never,  at  any  one  time,  exceed  the  amount  of  the  capital  stock 
actually  paid  in,  and  seventy-five  per  cent,  advance  thereon. 

2oth.  No  paper  shall  be  discounted  or  any  loan  made  by 
said  bank  for  a  longer  period  than  one  hundred  and  eighty 
days ;  nor  shall  any  note,  or  bill,  or  other  debt,  or  evidence  of 
debt,  be  renewed  or  extended  by  any  engagement  or  contract 
of  said  bank,  after  the  time  for  which  it  was  negotiated  shall 
have  expired. 

2 1 st.  The  said  bank  shall  not  hold  any  public  debt  or 
stocks,  or  the  stocks  of  any  incorporated  institution,  unless 
taken  for  the  security  or  in  satisfaction  of  debts  previously 
contracted. 

22d.  The  said  bank  shall  not  pay  out  the  notes  of  any 
other  bank,  or  any  thing  except  legal  coin,  or  its  own  notes. 

230!.  The  directors  of  the  said  bank  shall  not,  within  the 


FINANCE.  489 

District  of  Columbia,  discount  any  promissory  note  or  bill  of 
exchange,  nor  make  any  loan  whatever,  except  it  be  a  loan  to 
the  Government  of  the  United  States  according  to  the  provis 
ions  of  law. 

24th.  All  notes  or  bills  adapted  and  intended  to  circulate 
as  money  shall  be  prepared  under  the  direction  of  the  parent 
institution  at  Washington,  shall  be  signed  as  hereinbefore  pro 
vided  for,  and  shall  be  made  payable  at  the  banking  house  in 
Washington,  or  at  some  one  of  the  offices  of  discount  and  de 
posit,  to  be  specified  on  the  face  of  the  note  or  bill,  except 
notes  of  a  denomination  not  exceeding  ten  dollars,  which  may 
be  signed  by  the  president  and  cashier  of  any  office  of  discount 
and  deposit  at  which  they  may  be  issued  and  made  payable, 
but  shall,  nevertheless,  be  prepared  at  and  authorized  by  the 
parent  institution  at  Washington.  And  no  notes  or  bills  but 
such  as  are  prepared  and  signed,  as  aforesaid,  shall  be  issued 
by  any  of  the  said  offices  of  discount  and  deposit :  Provided, 
That  nothing  herein  contained  shall  be  so  construed  as  to  pro 
hibit  the  said  offices  from  selling  drafts  for  fifty  dollars  and  up 
wards,  each,  drawn  and  intended  for  the  purpose  of  remittance. 

The  notes  or  bills  of  the  said  corporation,  although  the 
same  be  upon  their  face,  respectively,  made  payable  at  a  par 
ticular  place  only,  shall,  nevertheless,  be  received  by  the  said 
corporation,  or  at  any  of  its  offices  of  discount  and  deposit, 
when  tendered,  in  liquidation  or  payment  of  any  debt  or  bal 
ance  due  to  said  corporation. 

25th.  The  officers  of  the  corporation  shall  not  be  permit 
ted  to  borrow  money  from  the  said  corporation,  or  contract  any 
debt  therewith,  in  any  manner  whatever ;  and  no  note  or  bill  of 
which  such  officer  is  maker,  drawer,  endorser,  acceptor,  or  other 
wise  a  party,  shall  be  discounted  :  Provided,  That  the  entire  li 
ability  of  any  one  director-  of  any  of  said  offices  to  said  corpor 
ation  may  exist  to  an  amount  not  exceeding  ten  thousand  dollars. 

SEC.  12.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  if  the  said  corpo 
ration,  or  any  person  or  persons  for  or  to  the  use  of  the  same, 
shall  deal  or  trade  in  buying  or  selling  any  goods,  wares,  mer- 
21* 


490  POLITICAL    PAPERS. 

chandise,  or  commodities  whatsoever,  contrary  to  the  provis 
ions  of  this  act,  all  and  every  person  or  persons  by  whom  any 
order  or  direction  for  so  dealing  or  trading  shall  have  been 
given,  and  all  and  every  person  or  persons  who  shall  have  been 
concerned  as  parties  or  agents  therein,  shall  forfeit  and  lose 
treble  the  value  of  the  goods,  wares,  merchandise,  and  commo 
dities,  in  which  such  dealings  and  trade  shall  have  been  ;  one 
half  thereof  to  the  use  of  the  informer,  and  the  other  half  there 
of  to  the  use  of  the  United  States,  to  be  recovered  in  any  ac 
tion  of  law,  with  costs  of  suit. 

SEC.  13.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  if  the  said  corpo 
ration  shall  advance  or  lend  any  sum  of  money,  for  the  use  or 
on  account  of  the  Government  of  the  United  States,  to  an 
amount  exceeding  one  million  of  dollars,  or  for  the  use  or  on 
account  of  any  particular  State,  to  an  amount  exceeding  one 
hundred  thousand  dollars  (unless  specially  authorized  by  law), 
all  and  every  person  and  persons,  by  and  with  whose  order, 
agreement,  consent,  approbation,  and  connivance,  such  unlaw 
ful  advance  or  loan  shall  have  been  made,  upon  conviction 
thereof,  shall  forfeit  and  pay  for  every  such  offence  treble  the 
value  or  amount  of  the  sum  or  sums  which  have  been  so  un 
lawfully  advanced  or  lent;  one-fifth  thereof  to  the  use  of  the 
informer,  and  the  residue  thereof  to  the  use  of  the  United 
States. 

SEC.  14.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  the  bills  or  notes 
of  the  said  corporation  originally  made  payable,  or  which  shall 
have  become  payable  on  demand,  shall  be  receivable  in  all 
payments  to  the  United  States,  unless  otherwise  directed  by 
act  of  Congress :  Provided,  however,  That  if  the  said  bank,  or 
any  of  its  branches,  shall  at  any  time  suspend  specie  payments, 
or  shall  neglect  or  refuse  to  discharge,  on  demand,  any  and  all 
of  its  liabilities  in  specie,  then  its  bills  or  notes  shall  not,  dur 
ing  such  suspension,  be  received  in  payment  of  any  debt  or 
demand  of  the  United  States  ;  and  such  suspension  of  specie 
payments  shall  be  held  and  adjudged  a  cause  of  forfeiture  of 
the  charter  hereby  granted. 


FINANCE.  491 

SEC.  15.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  during  the  contin 
uance  of  this  act,  and  whenever  required  by  the  Secretary  of 
the  Treasury,  the  said  corporation  shall  give  the  necessary  fa 
cilities  for  transferring  the  public  funds  from  place  to  place, 
within  the  United  States  or  the  Territories  thereof,  and  for  dis 
tributing  the  same  in  payment  of  the  public  creditors,  and  shall 
also  do  and  perform  the  several  respective  duties  formerly  re 
quired  of  the  pension  agents  and  commissioners  of  loans  for 
the  several  States,  or  of  any  one  or  more  of  them,  without 
charging  commissions,  or  claiming  allowances  on  account  of 
difference  of  exchange. 

SEC.  1 6.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  the  deposits  of 
the  money  of  the  United  States  in  places  in  which  the  said 
bank  and  branches  thereof  may  be  established,  shall  be  made 
in  said  bank  or  branches  thereof,  unless  Congress  shall  other 
wise  direct  by  law,  and  that  all  public  moneys  in  deposit  in 
said  bank,  or  standing  on  its  books  to  the  credit  of  the  Treas 
urer,  shall  be  taken  and  deemed  to  be  in  the  Treasury  of  the 
United  States,  and  all  payments  made  by  the  Treasurer  shall 
be  in  checks  drawn  on  said  bank  :  Provided,  That  if  the  said 
bank  shall  suspend  specie  payments  during  the  recess  of  Con 
gress,  it  shall  be  the  duty  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  to 
provide  for  the  safe  keeping  of  the  public  moneys  until  the  ac^ 
tion  of  Congress  can  be  had  thereon,  and  he  shall  report  the 
same  to  Congress  on  the  first  day  of  the  session  next  after 
such  suspension. 

SEC.  17.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  the  said  corpora 
tion  shall  not  at  any  time  suspend  or  refuse  payment,  in  gold 
and  silver  coin,  of  any  of  its  notes,  bills,  or  obligations,  nor  of 
any  moneys  received  upon  deposit  in  said  bank,  or  any  of  its 
offices  of  discount  and  deposit ;  and  if  the  said  corporation 
shall  at  any  time  refuse  or  neglect  to  pay,  on  demand,  any  bill, 
note,  or  obligation,  issued  by  the  corporation  according  to  the 
contract  promise,  or  undertaking,  therein  expressed,  or  shall 
neglect  or  refuse  to  pay,  on  demand,  any  moneys  received  in 
said  bank,  or  in  any  of  its  offices  aforesaid,  on  deposit,  to  the 


492  POLITICAL    PAPERS. 

person  or  persons  entitled  to  receive  the  same,  then,  and  in 
every  such  case,  the  holder  of  any  such  note,  bill,  or  obligation, 
or  the  person  or  persons  entitled  to  demand  and  receive  such 
moneys  as  aforesaid,  shall  respectively  be  entitled  to  receive 
and  recover  interest  on  the  said  bills,  notes,  obligations,  or 
moneys,  until  the  same  shall  be  fully  paid  and  satisfied,  at  the 
rate  of  twelve  per  cent,  per  annum,  from  the  time  of  such  de 
mand  aforesaid :  Provided,  That  Congress  may,  at  any  time 
hereafter,  enact  laws  enforcing  and  regulating  the  recovery  of 
the  amount  of  the  notes,  bills,  obligations,  or  other  debts,  of 
which  payment  shall  have  been  refused  as  aforesaid,  with  the 
rate  of  interest  above  mentioned,  vesting  jurisdiction  for  that 
purpose  in  any  courts  of  the  United  States,  or  Territories 
thereof,  as  they  may  deem  expedient. 

Sec.  1 8.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  if  any  person  shall 
falsely  make,  forge,  or  counterfeit,  or  cause  or  procure  to  be 
falsely  made,  forged,  or  counterfeited,  or  willingly  aid  or  assist 
in  falsely  making,  forging,  or  counterfeiting,  any  bill  or  note  in 
imitation  of,  or  purporting  to  be,  a  bill  or  note  issued  by  order 
of  the  said  bank,  or  any  order  or  check  on  the  said  bank  or 
corporation,  or  any  cashier  thereof;  or  shall  falsely  alter,  or 
cause  or  procure  to  be  falsely  altered,  or  willingly  aid  or  assist 
in  falsely  altering  any  bill  or  note  issued  by  order  of  the  said 
bank,  or  any  order  or  check  on  the  said  bank  or  corporation, 
or  any  cashier  thereof;  or  shall  pass  utter,  or  publish,  or  attempt 
to  pass,  utter  or  publish,  as  true,  any  false,  forged,  or  counter 
feit  bill  or  note,  purporting  to  be  a  bill  or  note  issued  by  order 
of  the  said  bank,  or  any  false,  forged,  or  counterfeited  order  or 
check  upon  the  said  bank  or  corporation,  or  any  cashier  there 
of,  knowing  the  same  to  be  falsely  forged  or  counterfeited  ;  or 
shall  pass,  utter,  or  publish,  or  attempt  to  pass,  utter,  or  pub 
lish,  as  true,  any  falsely  altered  bill  or  note  issued  by  order  of 
the  said  bank,  or  any  falsely  altered  order  or  check  on  the  said 
bank  or  corporation,  or  any  cashier  thereof,  knowing  the  same 
to  be  falsely  altered,  with  intention  to  defraud  the  said  corpo 
ration,  or  any  other  body  politic  or  person  ;  or  shall  sell,  utter, 


FINAXC'I-1.  493 

or  deliver,  or  cause  to  be  sold,  uttered  or  delivered,  any  forged 
or  counterfeit  note  or  bill  in  imitation  of  or  purporting  to  be,  a 
bill  or  note  issued  by  order  of  the  said  bank,  knowing  the  same 
to  be  false,  forged,  or  counterfeited,  every  such  person  shall  be 
deemed  and  adjudged  guilty  of  felony  ;  and,  being  thereof  con 
victed  by  due  course  of  law,  shall  be  sentenced  to  be  impris 
oned  and  kept  to  hard  labor  for  not  less  than  three  years  nor 
more  than  ten  years  ;  or  shall  be  imprisoned  not  exceeding  ten 
years,  and  fined  not  exceeding  five  thousand  dollars  :  Provided, 
That  nothing  herein  contained  shall  be  construed  to  deprive 
the  courts  of  the  individual  States  of  a  jurisdiction,  under  the 
laws  of  the  several  States,  over  any  offence  declared  punishable 
by  this  act. 

Sec.  19.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  if  any  person  shall 
make  or  engrave,  or  cause  or  procure  to  be  made  or  engraved, 
or  shall  have  in  his  custody  or  possession  any  plate,  engraved 
after  the  similitude  of  any  plate  from  which  any  note  or  bills 
issued  by  the  said  corporation  shall  have  been  printed,  with  in 
tent  to  use  such  plate,  or  cause  or  suffer  the  same  to  be  used, 
in  forging  or  counterfeiting  any  of  the  notes  or  bills  issued  by 
the  said  corporation  ;  cr  shall  have  in  his  custody  or  possession 
any  blank  note  or  notes,  bill  or  bills,  engraved  and  printed  after 
the  similitude  of  any  notes  or  bills  issued  by  said  corporation, 
with  intent  to  use  such  blanks,  or  cause  or  suffer  the  same  to 
be  used,  in  forging  or  counterfeiting  any  of  the  notes  or  bills 
issued  by  the  said  corporation  ;  or  shall  have  in  his  custody  or 
possession  any  paper  adapted  to  the  making  of  bank  notes  or 
bills,  and  similar  to  the  paper  upon  which  any  notes  or  bills  of 
the  said  corporation  shall  have  been  issued,  with  intent  to  use 
such  paper,  or  cause  or  suffer  the  same  to  be  used,  in  forging  or 
counterfeiting  any  of  the  notes  or  bills  issued  by  the  said  cor 
poration,  every  such  person,  being  thereof  convicted  by  due 
course  of  law,  shall  be  sentenced  to  be  imprisoned  for  a  term 
not  exceeding  five  years,  and  fined  in  a  sum  not  exceeding  one 
thousand  dollars. 

Sec.   20.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  if  any  officer,  agent, 


494:  POLITICAL    PAP  KItS. 

or  servant  of  the  said  bank,  shall  embezzle  or  appropriate  to 
his  own  use  any  moneys,  goods,  effects,  or  funds  of  the  said 
bank,  with  intent  to  cheat  or  defraud  the  said  corporation,  or 
shall  make  false  entries  upon  the  books  of  the  said  bank,  with 
intent  to  defraud  the  said  corporation,  or  any  other  person 
whatsoever,  such  officer,  agent,  or  servant,  shall  be  deemed 
guilty  of  felony,  and,  on  conviction  thereof,  shall  be  fined  at 
the  discretion  of  the  court,  and  imprisonment  not  exceeding 
six  years. 

.SEC.  21.  And  be  it  further  enacted.  That  no  other  bank  shall 
be  established  by  any  future  law  of  the  United  States  during 
the  continuance  of  the  corporation  hereby  created  :  Provided, 
That  Congress  may  renew  or  modify  the  charters  of  the  banks 
heretofore  established  within  the  District  of  Columbia,  or  estab 
lish  other  banks  within  and  for  the  use  of  the  said  District,  so 
that  the  aggregate  capital  of  all  the  banks  chartered  for  the 
said  District  shall  not  exceed  the  sum  of  five  millions  of  dol 
lars.  And  notwithstanding  the  expiration  of  the  term  for  which 
the  said  corporation  is  created,  it  shall  be  lawful  to  use  the  cor 
porate  name,  style,  and  capacity,  for  the  purpose  of  suits,  and 
for  the  final  settlement  and  liquidation  of  the  affairs  and  ac 
counts  of  the  corporation,  and  for  the  sale  and  disposition  of 
their  estate,  real,  personal,  and  mixed ;  but  not  for  any  other 
purpose,  or  in  any  other  manner  whatever,  nor  for  a  period  ex 
ceeding  two  years  after  the  expiration  of  the  said  term  of  incor 
poration. 

Sec.  22.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  if  the  subscrip 
tions  and  payments  to  said  bank  shall  not  be  made  and  com 
pleted  so  as  to  enable  the  same  to  commence  its  operations,  or 
if  the  said  bank  shall  not  commence  its  operations  on  or  before 
the  first  Monday  in  January  next,  then,  and  in  that  case,  Con 
gress  may,  at  any  time  within  twelve  months  thereafter,  declare, 
by  law,  this  act  null  and  void. 

Sec.  23.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  whenever  a  com 
mittee  of  either  House  of  Congress,  appointed  to  inspect  the 
books  and  to  examine  into  the  proceedings  of  the  corporation 


FINANCE.  4:95 

hereby  created,  shall  report  that  the  provisions  of  this  charter 
have  been  by  the  same  violated,  or  the  President  of  the  United 
States  shall  have  reason  to  believe  that  the  charter  has  been 
violated,  it  may  be  lawful  for  Congress  to  direct,  or  the  Presi 
dent  to  order,  a  scire  facias  to  be  sued  out  of  the  Circuit  Court 
of  the  United  States  for  the  District  of  Columbia,  in  the  name 
of  the  United  States  (which  shall  be  served  upon  the  President 
of  the  corporation  for  the  time  being,  at  least  fifteen  days  be 
fore  the  commencement  of  the  term  of  said  court),  calling  on 
the  said  corporation  to  show  cause  wherefore  the  charter  here 
by  granted  shall  not  be  declared  forfeited  ;  and  it  shall  be  law 
ful  for  the  said  court,  upon  the  return  of  the  said  scire  facias, 
to  examine  into  the  truth  of  the  alleged  violation  ;  and  if  such 
violation  be  made  to  appear,  then  to  pronounce  and  adjudge 
that  the  said  charter  is  forfeited  and  annulled :  Provided,  how 
ever,  That  every  issue  of  fact  which  may  be  joined  between  the 
United  States  and  the  corporation  aforesaid  shall  be  tried  by 
a  jury.  And  it  shall  be  lawful  for  the  court  aforesaid  to  require 
the  production  of  such  of  the  books  or  papers  of  the  corpora 
tion  as  it  may  deem  necessary  for  the  ascertainment  of  the  con 
troverted  facts  ;  and  the  final'  judgment  of  the  court  aforesaid 
shall  be  examinable  in  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States 
by  writ  of  error,  and  be  there  reversed  or  affirmed,  according 
to  the  usages  of  the  law. 

SEC.  24.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  if  the  said  corpo 
ration  shall  assume  or  exercise  any  franchise  or  privilege,  or 
attempt  to  carry  on  any  business  not  allowed  by  this  act,  it 
shall  be  lawful  for  the  Attorney  General  of  the  United  States, 
under  the  direction  of  Congress,  or  the  President  of  the  United 
States,  to  file  an  information,  in  the  nature  of  a  bill  in  equity, 
in  the  Circuit  Court  of  the  United  States  for  the  District  of  Co 
lumbia,  to  restrain  by  injunction  the  said  bank  from  assuming 
or  exercising  such  franchise  or  privilege,  or  transacting  such 
business.  And  the  said  court  may  issue  temporary  or  perpet 
ual  writs  of  injunction,  direct  such  course  of  proceedings,  and 
make  all  such  orders  and  decrees,  on  such  information  as  may 


496  POLITICAL    PAPERS. 

be  consonant  with  the  course  of  such  court  in  cases  in  equity : 
Provided,  That  no  final  decree  shall  be  made  in  any  such  case, 
unless  the  issues  of  fact  joined  therein  shall  be  first  found  by  a 
jury  ;  and  that,  from  such  final  decree,  an  appeal  may  be  taken 
to  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States. 


NAVAL    AFFAIRS.  497 


EXTKACT  FEOM  HIS  REPORT  AS   SECRETA 
RY  OF  THE  NAVY. 

Explorations  and  Surveys. 

DURING  the  past  year  the  attention  of  this  Department, 
in  conjunction  with  the  Department  of  State,  has  been 
directed  to  the  employment  of  the  East  India  squadron  in  an 
enterprise  of  great  moment  to  the  commercial  interests  of  the 
country — the  endeavor  to  establish  relations  of  amity  and  com 
merce  with  the  empire  of  Japan. 

The  long  interdict  which  has  denied  to  strangers  access  to 
the  ports  or  territory  of  that  country,  and  the  singularly  inhos 
pitable  laws  which  its  government  has  adopted  to  secure  this 
exclusion,  having  been  productive,  of  late  years,  of  gross  op 
pression  and  cruelty  to  citizens  of  the  United  States,  it  has 
been  thought  expedient  to  take  some  effective  measure  to  pro 
mote  a  better  understanding  with  this  populous  and  semi-bar 
barous  empire  ;  to  make  the  effort  not  only  to  obtain  from 
them  the  observance  of  the  rights  of  humanity  to  such  of  our 
people  as  may  be  driven  by  necessity  upon  their  coasts,  but 
also  to  promote  the  higher  and  more  valuable  end  of  persuad 
ing  them  to  abandon  their  unprofitable  policy  of  seclusion,  and 
gradually  to  take  a  place  in  that  general  association  of  com 
merce  in  which  their  resources  and  industry  would  equally  en 
able  them  to  confer  benefits  upon  others  and  the  fruits  of  a 
higher  civilization  upon  themselves. 

The  extension  of  the  domain  of  the  United  States  to  the 
shores  of  the  Pacific,  the  rapid  settlement  of  California  and 
Oregon,  the  opening  of  the  highway  across  the  Isthmus  of  Cen- 


498  POLITICAL    PAPERS. 

tral  America,  the  great  addition  to  our  navigation  employed 
in  trade  with  Asiatic  nations,  and  the  increased  activity  of  our 
whaling  ships  in  the  vicinity  of  the  northern  coast  of  Japan, 
are  now  pressing  upon  the  consideration  of  this  Government 
the  absolute  necessity  of  reviewing  our  relations  to  those  East 
ern  communities  which  lie  contiguous  to  the  path  of  our  trade. 
The  enforcement  of  a  more  liberal  system  of  intercourse  upon 
China  has  met  the  approval  of  the  civilized  world,  and  its  ben 
efits  are  seen  and  felt,  not  less  remarkably  in  the  progress  of 
that  ancient  empire  itself  than  in  the  activity  which  it  has  al 
ready  imparted  to  the  pursuit  of  Eastern  commerce.  China  is 
awaking  from  the  lethargy  of  a  thousand  years  to  the  percep 
tion  of  the  spirit  of  the  present  era,  and  is  even  now  furnishing 
her  quota  to  the  adventure  which  distinguishes  and  stimulates 
the  settlement  of  our  western  coast. 

These  events  have  forced  upon  the  people  of  America  and 
P^urope  the  consideration  of  the  question,  how  far  it  is  consist 
ent  with  the  rights  of  the  civilized  world  to  defer  to  those  in 
convenient  and  unsocial  customs  by  which  a  nation  capable  of 
contributing  to  the  relief  of  the  wants  of  humanity  shall  be  per 
mitted  to  renounce  that  duty  ;  whether  any  nation  may  claim 
to  be  exempt  from  the  admitted  Christian  obligation  of  hospi 
tality  to  those  strangers  whom  the  vocations  of  commerce  or 
the  lawful  pursuits  of  industry  may  have  incidentally  brought 
in  need  of  its  assistance  ;  and  the  still  stronger  case,  whether 
the  enlightened  world  will  tolerate  the  infliction  of  punishment 
or  contumelious  treatment  upon  the  unfortunate  voyager  whom 
the  casualties  of  the  sea  may  have  compelled  to  an  unwilling 
infraction  of  a  barbarous  law.  ; 

These  are  questions  which  are  every  day  becoming  more 
significant.  That  oriental  sentiment  which,  hardened  by  the 
usage  and  habit  of  centuries,  has  dictated  the  inveterate  poli 
cy  of  national  isolation  in  Japan,  it  is  very  apparent,  will  not 
long  continue  to  claim  the  sanctity  of  a  national  right  to  the 
detriment  of  the  cause  of  universal  commerce  and  civilization, 
at  this  time  so  signally  active  in  enlarging  the  boundaries  of 


NAVAL    AFFAIR.  499 

human  knowledge  and  the  diffusion  of  comfort  over  the  earth. 
The  day  has  come  when  Europe  and  America  have  found  an 
urgent  inducement  to  demand  of  Asia  and  Africa  the  rights  of 
hospitality,  of  aid  and  comfort,  shelter  and  succor,  to  the  men 
who  pursue  the  great  highroads  of  trade  and  exploration  over 
the  globe.  Christendom  is  constrained,  by  the  pressure  of  an 
increasing  necessity,  to  publish  its  wants  and  declare  its  rights 
to  the  heathen,  and  in  making  its  power  felt  will  bring  innum 
erable  blessings  to  every  race  which  shall  acknowledge  its  mas 
tery. 

The  Government  of  the  United  States  has  happily  placed 
itself  in  the  front  of  this  movement,  and  it  may  be  regarded  as 
one  of  the  most  encouraging  guarantees  of  its  success  that  the 
expedition  which  has  just  left  our  shores  takes  with  it  the  earn 
est  good  wishes,  not  only  of  our  own  country,  but  of  the  most 
enlightened  communities  of  Europe.  The  opening  of  Japan 
has  become  a  necessity  which  is  recognized  in  the  commercial 
adventure  of  all  Christian  nations,  and  is  deeply  felt  by  every 
owner  of  an  American  whaleship  and  every  voyager  between 
California  and  China. 

This  important  duty  has  been  consigned  to  the  command 
ing  officer  of  the  East  India  squadron,  a  gentleman  in  every 
respect  worthy  of  the  trust  reposed  in  him,  and  who  contrib 
utes  to  its  administration  the  highest  energy  and  ability,  im 
proved  by  long  and  various  service  in  his  profession.  Look 
ing  to  the  magnitude  of  the  undertaking,  and  the  great  expec 
tations  which  have  been  raised  both  in  this  country  and  in  Eu 
rope  in  reference  to  its  results,  to  casualties  to  which  it  may  be 
exposed,  and  the  necessity  to  guard  it,  by  every  precaution 
within  the  power  of  the  Government,  against  the  possibility  of 
a  failure,  I  have  thought  it  proper,  with  your  approbation,  to 
increase  the  force  destined  to  this  employment,  and  to  put  at 
the  disposal  of  Commodore  Perry  a  squadron  of  unusual 
strength  and  capability.  I  have  therefore  recently  added  to 
the  number  of  vessels  appropriated  to  the  command  the  line- 
of-battle-ship  Vermont,  the  corvette  Macedonian,  and  the 


500  POLITICAL    PAPERS. 

steamer  Alleghany.  These  ships,  together  with  the  sloop-of- 
war  Vandalia,  originally  intended  to  be  assigned  to  the  squad 
ron,  and  with  the  ships  now  on  that  station,  the  steamer  Sus- 
quehanna,  and  the  sloops-of-war  Saratoga  and  Plymouth — a 
portion  of  which  are  now  near  to  the  term  of  their  cruise — will 
constitute  a  command  adapted,  we  may  suppose,  to  any  emer 
gency  which  the  delicate  nature  of  the  trust  committed  to  the 
Commodore  may  present.  It  is  probable  that  the  exhibition 
of  the  whole  force,  which  will  be  under  the  command  of  Com 
modore  Perry  during  the  first  year,  will  produce  such  an  im 
pression  upon  a  government  and  people  who  are  accustomed 
to  measure  their  respect  by  the  array  of  power  which  accom 
panies  the  demand  of  it,  as  may  enable  him  to  dispense  with 
the  vessels  whose  term  of  service  is  drawing  near  to  a  close, 
and  that  they  may  be  returned  to  the  United  States  without 
any  material  prolongation  of  their  cruise. 

A  liberal  allowance  has  been  made  to  the  squadron  for  all 
the  contingencies  which  the  peculiar  nature  of  the  enterprise 
may  create.  The  commanding  officer  is  furnished  with  ample 
means  of  defence  and  protection  on  land  as  well  as  sea ;  with 
the  means,  also,  of  procuring  despatch  vessels,  when  necessa 
ry,  transports  for  provision  and  fuel,  and  for  such  other  em 
ployment  as  may  be  required.  Special  depots  of  coal  have 
been  established  at  various  points,  and  abundant  supplies  pro 
vided.  He  has,  in  addition  to  the  instructions  usually  given 
to  the  squadron  on  this  station,  been  directed  to  avail  himself 
of  such  opportunities  as  may  fall  in  his  way  to  make  as  accu 
rate  surveys  as  his  means  may  allow  of  the  coasts  and  seas  he 
may  visit,  and  to  preserve  the  results  for  future  publication  for 
the  benefit  of  commerce. 

Somewhat  allied  in  character  and  importance  to  these  pro 
jected  operations  of  the  Japan  squadron  is  the  expedition  now 
prepared  for  the  exploration  and  survey  of  the  China  seas,  the 
Northern  Pacific,  and  Behring's  Straits.  The  naval  appropria 
tion  bill  of  the  last  session  of  Congress  put  at  the  disposal  of 
this  Department  one  hundred  and  twenty-five  thousand  dollars 


NAVAL    AFFAIRS.  501 

"for  the  building  or  purchase  of  suitable  vessels,  and  for  pros 
ecuting  a  survey  and  reconnoissance  for  naval  and  commercial 
purposes  of  such  parts  of  Behring's  Straits,  of  the  North  Pacif 
ic  Ocean,  and  the  China  seas  as  are  frequented  by  American 
whaleships  and  by  trading  vessels  in  their  routes  between  the 
United  States  and  China." 

Very  earnestly  concurring  with  Congress  in  the  import 
ance  of  this  exploration  and  survey]  I  lost  no  time  in  the  ar 
rangement  and  preparation  of  what  I  hope  will  prove  itself  to 
be  a  most  effective  and  useful  expedition.  As  the  act  of  Con 
gress  has  confided  to  the  discretion  of  this  Department  the  se 
lection  of  the  vessels  which  may  be  found  necessary  for  the 
prosecution  of  this  enterprise,  the  equipment  and  distribution 
of  the  force  it  may  require,  and  the  organization  of  every  mat 
ter  of  detail  connected  with  it,  limited  only  by  the  amount  of 
the  appropriation,  I  have  thought  I  should  best  accomplish  the 
object  proposed  and  gratify  the  expectation  of  the  country  by 
giving  to  the  expedition  the  benefit  of  such  naval  resources  as 
the  Department  could  command,  rather  than  confine  it  to  such 
limited  supply  as  would  have  resulted  from  either  building  or 
purchasing  vessels  and  providing  for  the  other  details  of  this 
service  out  of  the  fund  entrusted  to  the  Department.  With 
this  fund  so  applied  the  Department  would  have  been  con 
strained  to  organize  the  expedition  upon  a  scale  which  I  con 
ceive  to  be  altogether  inadequate  to  the  nature  of  the  labor  re 
quired,  and  which  indeed  would  have  been  almost  certain  to 
end  in  the  failure  to  accomplish  such  results  as  Congress  had 
contemplated.  Looking  to  the  amount  which  it  would  have  * 
been  necessary  to  reserve  in  order  to  provide  for  the  special 
contingencies  of  such  an  expedition,  it  would  have  been  im 
practicable  to  procure,  by  the  application  of  the  remaining 
portion  of  the  appropriation,  more  than  one  steamer  of  an  in 
ferior  class,  and  perhaps  two  small  brigs,  to  constitute  the 
force  to  be  used  in  the  undertaking.  It  is  doubtful  if  even 
this  equipment  could  have  been  obtained  by  such  an  appropri 
ation  of  the  fund.  The  absolute  necessity  of  altering,  strength- 


502  POLITICAL    PAPER? . 

ening,  and  arranging  any  vessel  which  might  be  purchased,  so 
as  to  adapt  it  to  the  character  of  the  service  required,  and  give 
reasonable  assurance  of  safety  and  success,  would  have  drawn 
so  largely  upon  the  appropriation  as  to  reduce  the  outfit  to  a 
limit  quite  incompatible  with  the  object  expected  to  be  attained. 

This  cruise  of  exploration  and  survey,  destined  to  equal 
employment  in  the  tropics  and  the  arctic  regions,  and  required 
to  traverse  the  broad  expanse  of  the  Pacific  among  dangerous 
and  unknown  shoals,  and  in  search  of  islands  and  rocks  mis 
placed  upon  our  charts,  and  therefore  the  more  perilous  to  the 
navigator,  will  find  enough,  and  more  than  enough,  of  labor  to 
occupy  it  during  the  next  three  years.  Its  toilsome  duties,  ex 
acting  ceaseless  vigilance  and  all  the  skill  of  seamanship,  will 
be  inevitably  enhanced  by  the  disease  incident  to  varying 
climates  and  exposure  to  the  peculiar  casualties  to  boat  navi 
gation  and  contests  with  the  savage  islanders  of  the  seas  it  is 
destined  to  explore.  I  have  therefore  deemed  it  indispensa 
ble  that  at  least  one  large  vessel  should  be  always  at  hand  to 
afford  a  change  of  quarters  to  those  who  may  be  disabled,  and 
to  supply  reliefs  of  fresh  men  to  take  the  place  of  those  who 
may  be  broken  down  by  sickness  or  accident.  It  is  impossible 
to  maintain  the  health  of  the  crews  of  the  small  vessels  in  so  long 
a  service  without  the  comforts  which  such  a  change  may  afford. 
These  surveys  also  require  an  extra  supply  of  men  beyond  the 
usual  complement  destined  to  our  cruising  ships,  there  being 
constant  occasion  for  detachments  in  boats  to  conduct  the  op 
eration  of  measuring  and  determining  the  position  and  bearings 
of  the  shoals  and  islands  which  it  is  the  purpose  of  the  enter 
prise  to  ascertain. 

In  consideration  of  all  these  conditions,  and  many  others 
of  a  kindred  nature,  I  have  determined  to  give  to  this  little 
squadron  every  facility  which  the  resources  at  my  command 
have  enabled  me  to  supply.  I  have  accordingly  put  the  Vin- 
cennes,  one  of  our  staunchest  and  best  sloops  of  war,  in  the 
lead  of  the  expedition.  I  have  added  to  this  the  propeller 
John  Hancock,  which,  being  found  to  have  an  engine  of  the 


NAVAL    AFFAIR!?.  503 

strongest  construction,  needed  only  some  alterations  in  her 
size  and  frame  and  the  addition  of  new  boilers  to  make  her  in 
every  respect  a  most  efficient  contribution  to  the  force  re 
quired.  She  has,  with  this  view,  been  placed  in  the  hands  of 
the  naval  constructor,  who  is  now  assiduously  at  work,  and  I 
am  happy  to  report  with  all  desirable  success,  in  fitting  her  out 
with  every  accommodation  which  her  future  operations  may 
demand.  Besides  these  two  vessels,  the  brig  Porpoise  has 
been  detailed  for  the  expedition,  and  put  in  condition  for  all 
the  exigencies  of  her  employment  A  small  pilot-boat,  adapt 
ed  to  speedy  navigation  and  shallow  waters,  will  be  added  to 
the  squadron.  These  vessels,  fully  manned  and  equipped  and 
furnished  with  all  the  necessaries  appropriate  to  the  hazardous 
nature  of  their  cruise,  constitute  the  material  elements  of  the 
expedition. 

To  promote  the  scientific  objects  contemplated  by  the  re- 
connoissance,  I  have  supplied  the  squadron  with  an  astron 
omer  and  hydrographer  of  known  ability  and  accomplishment, 
and  also  with  a  naturalist  and  botanist,  who  are  charged  with 
the  duty  of  collecting  and  preserving  specimens  of  such  natur 
al  productions  as  maybe  interesting  to  science  and  commerce. 

The  squadron  is  placed  under  the  command  of  an  officer 
already  distinguished  by  his  participation  in  a  former  Explor 
ing  Expedition,  and  well  known  for  the  valuable  contributions 
he  has  made  to  the  hydrographical  surveys  of  our  western 
coasts — Commander  Ringgold,  whose  professional  accomplish 
ment  and  devotion  to  the  service  eminently  qualify  him  for  the 
duty  committed  to  him.  He  will  be  able,  I  hope,  to  take  his 
departure  in  a  few  weeks,  and  will  sail  directly  to  the  Pacific 
doubling  Cape  Horn  and  proceeding  by  the  Sandwich  Islands 
to  Behring's  Straits,  where  he  may  be  expected  to  arrive  at  the 
opening  of  the  season  for  operations  in  that  quarter.  It  is  de 
signed  to  employ  the  expedition  during  each  year  in  the  re- 
connoissance  of  these  high  latitudes  from  June  until  October, 
this  being  the  only  season  in  which  the  surveys  may  be  prose 
cuted  in  those  regions.  The  remaining  portions  of  each  year 


504  POLITICAL    PAPERS. 

will  be  devoted  to  the  prosecution  of  survey  and  exploration 
in  the  lower  latitudes,  along  the  coast  of  Japan,  the  China 
Seas,  and  the  routes  of  navigation  between  our  ports  on  the 
Pacific  and  the  East  Indies.  Particular  attention  will  be  given 
to  the  survey  of  the  seas  and  coasts  through  and  along  which 
our  whaling  ships  pursue  their  perilous  trade,  looking  carefully 
to  the  coast  of  Japan,  the  Kurile  Islands,  the  sea  of  Okhotsk, 
and  the  unexplored  shores  of  Northern  Asia. 

The  commander  of  the  expedition  is  made  fully  aware  of 
the  necessity  and  value  of  an  accurate  survey  of  the  various 
lines  of  navigation  between  California  and  China,  and  will  be 
stow  upon  this  undertaking  an  attention  commensurate  with 
its  importance.  He  is  directed  to  make  frequent  reports  of 
his  work,  in  order  that  no  time  may  be  lost  in  communicating 
to  the  country  the  results,  together  with  descriptive  charts  of 
his  survey,  for  the  benefit  of  commerce  and  navigation.  These 
will  be  duly  published  as  often  as  they  are  received  by  the  De 
partment. 

Being  persuaded  that  this  Department  cannot  better  contrib 
ute  to  the  fulfilment  of  the  high  expectations  which  the  coun 
try  has  ever  entertained  as  to  the  value  of  the  navy,  nor  per 
form  a  more  acceptable  duty  to  the  navy  itself,  than  by  impart 
ing  to  this  arm  of  the  national  power  the  highest  spirit  of  en 
terprise,  as  well  as  the  greatest  efficiency  of  action,  I  have 
sought  every  opportunity  to  put  in  requisition  for  useful  service 
the  various  talent,  skill,  and  ambition  of  honorable  adventure, 
which  equally  distinguish  and  embellish  the  professional  char 
acter  of  the  officers  under  the  control  of  the  Department.  Con 
stant  employment  of  ships  and  men  in  the  promotion  of  valua 
ble  public  interests,  whether  in  the  defence  of  the  honor  of  our 
flag,  or  in  the  exploration  of  the  field  of  discovery  and  the 
opening  of  new  channels  of  trade,  or  in  the  enlarging  of  the 
boundaries  of  science,  I  am  convinced  will  be  recognized  both 
by  the  Government  and  the  people  as  the  true  and  proper  vo 
cation  of  the  navy,  and  as  the  means  best  calculated  to  nurse 
and  strengthen  that  prompt  and  gallant  devotion  to  duty  which 


NAVAL    AFFAIRS.  505 

is  so  essential  to  the  character  of  accomplished  officers,  and 
so  indispensable  to  the  effectiveness  of  the  naval  organization. 

Acting  in  conformity  with  this  opinion,  1  have  availed  my 
self  of  events  that  favored  the  object  to  set  on  foot  two  other 
expeditions,  which  may  be  classed  with  those  which  I  have  just 
presented  to  your  notice,  and  from  which  I  have  every  reason 
to  hope  much  good  is  to  be  derived  hereafter.  My  attention 
has  been  invited  by  the  Colonization  Society  of  Pennsylvania 
to  the  necessity  of  prosecuting  some  researches  into  the  char 
acter  of  the  continent  of  Africa,  and  especially  that  portion  of 
it  lying  eastward  of  the  settlements  of  Liberia.  It  is  supposed 
that  an  exploration  of  this  region  would  lead  to  the  discovery 
of  a  broad  tract  of  fertile  and  healthy  country,  well  adapted  to 
the  extension  of  that  system  of  colonization  which  for  some 
years  past  has  greatly  interested  the  public  attention,  and  more 
recently  attracted  the  favorable  consideration  of  Congress. 

The  proposition  submitted  to  my  view  by  the  society,  and 
referred  to  your  approval,  I  regard  as  one  which  may  be  ren 
dered  productive  of  great  public  advantage,  and  in  regard  to 
which  you  might  confidently  bespeak  and  anticipate  the  appro 
bation  of  the  country.  I  have  therefore  not  hesitated,  with 
your  concurrence,  to  give  it  the  aid  which  it  was  in  the  power 
of  the  Department  to  bestow.  As  I  could  not,  however,  with 
out  some  special  appropriation  to  the  object,  organize  a  full 
and  effective  expedition  for  the  prosecution  of  this  enterprise. 
I  have  thought  that,  by  the  employment  of  such  means  as  have 
been  provided  for  the  ordinary  exigencies  of  the  service,  I 
might  profitably  prepare  the  way  for  such  an  expedition  as  Con 
gress  might  hereafter  think  it  fit  to  authorize.  I  have  accord 
ingly  directed  a  preliminary  investigation  to  be  made  by  an  of 
ficer  of  the  navy,  whom  I  have  attached  to  the  African  squad 
ron,  with  orders  to  devote  the  months  of  the  coming  winter  to 
an  examination  of  the  necessary  conditions  which  this  under 
taking  may  require. 

In  Commander  Lynch,  to  whom  the  country  is  already  in 
debted  for  important  service  in  another  field,  I  have  found  a 

22 


506  POLITICAL    PAPERS. 

prompt  and  ardent  volunteer  for  this  employment.  He  is 
now  on  his  way  to  the  African  coast.  He  will  land  at  Liberia, 
Cape  Palmas,  and  other  points,  and  will  pursue  his  inquiries  as 
far  as  the  river  Gaboon,  with  a  view  to  the  ascertainment  of 
such  localities  on  the  margin  of  the  African  continent  as  may 
present  the  greatest  facilities,  whether  by  the  river  courses  or 
by  inland  routes,  for  penetrating  with  least  hazard  to  the  inte 
rior.  He  will  collect  information  touching  the  geographical 
character  of  the  country,  its  means  of  affording  the  necessary 
supplies  of  men  and  provisions,  the  temper  of  the  inhabitants, 
whether  hostile  or  friendly,  the  proper  precautions  to  be  ob 
served  to  secure  the  health  of  a  party  employed,  and  all  other 
items  of  knowledge  upon  which  it  may  be  proper  hereafter  to 
prepare  and  combine  the  forces  essential  to  the  success  of  a 
complete  and  useful  exploration  of  the  interior.  In  the  per 
formance  of  this  duty,  under  the  most  favorable  circumstances, 
he  will  encounter  the  perils  of  a  climate  famed  for  its  unwhole 
some  influence  upon  the  white  man,  and  may  hardly  hope  to 
escape  the  exhibition  of  hostility  from  the  natives.  The  spirit 
which  has  prompted  him  to  court  this  perilous  adventure,  so 
honorable  to  his  courage  and  philanthropy,  I  trust  will  enable 
him  to  brave  every  hazard  with  success ;  to  overcome  every 
obstacle  in  his  progress,  and  to  reserve  himself  for  the  accom 
plishment  of  the  great  object  to  which  these  preparations  are 
directed.  In  the  mean  time,  I  most  earnestly  commend  the 
subject  of  the  exploration  to  the  early  and  favorable  attention 
of  Congress,  with  the  expression  of  my  own  conviction  that 
there  is  no  enterprise  of  the  present  day  that  deserves  a  higher 
degree  of  favor,  or  that  will  more  honorably  signalize  the  en 
lightened  policy  of  this  Government  in  the  estimation  of  the 
present  or  of  future  generations.  It  will  require  a  lib 
eral  appropriation  of  money,  and  an  enlarged  discretion  to 
be  confided  to  the  Navy  Department  for  the  organization  and 
arrangement  of  a  plan  of  operations  which  must  embrace  the 
employment  of  a  number  of  men,  the  supply  of  boats,  arma 
ments,  and  tools,  and  the  enlistment  of  such  scientific  aid  as 


NAVAL    AFFAIRS.  507 

a  long  and  laborious  inland  exploration,  beset  with  many  dan 
gers  and  difficulties,  will  suggest. 

With  a  view  to  the  preparatory  operations  of  Commander 
Lynch,  and  also  in  consideration  of  the  need  which  the  African 
squadron  has  at  all  times  for  such  an  auxiliary,  I  have  direct 
ed  the  small  steamer  Vixen  to  be  prepared  without  delay  and 
sent  to  that. coast,  to  constitute  a  part  of  the  force  under  the 
command  of  Commodore  Mayo,  who  is  about  to  take  charge 
of  the  squadron.  He  will  be  instructed  to  furnish  Commander 
Lynch  with  every  facility  which  his  position  may  allow.  A 
small  sum  of  money  has  also  been  placed  at  the  disposal  of 
Commander  Lynch  for  the  contingencies  of  his  present  service. 

The  second  expedition  to  which  I  have  referred  has  grown 
out  of  the  recent  decree  of  the  Provisional  Director  of  the  Ar 
gentine  Confederation,  which  has  very  lately  reached  this  coun 
try,  and  which  now  throws  open  to  navigation  that  long-seal 
ed  and  excluded  country  lying  upon  the  tributaries  of  the  river 
La  Plata.  The  Uraguay  and  the  Parana  are  at  last  opened  by 
this  decree  to  the  access  of  all  nations  who  may  choose  to  seek 
the  new  associations  which  they  offer  to  the  spirit  of  adventure. 
A  vast  territory  of  boundless  resource,  proverbial  for  its  treas 
ures  of  vegetable  and  mineral  wealth,  extending  like  the  Mis 
sissippi,  from  south  to  north,  and  reaching  through  twenty-four 
parallels  of  latitude,  with  every  climate  between  the  temperate 
and  torrid  zones,  and  with  every  variety  of  product  which  may 
be  gathered  from  the  alluvial  plains  of  the  ocean  border  to  the 
heights  of  the  Andes — this  is  the  field  into  which  the  liberal 
decree  of  President  Urquiza  has  invited  the  enterprise  of  our 
country,  as  well  as  of  other  nations,  who  will  be  equally  prompt 
to  pursue  it.  We  have  waited  with  anxiety  for  the  occasion  to 
add  this  new  resource  to  the  industry  of  our  people  ;  and  I  am 
sure  it  will  gratify  the  commercial  pride  and  please  the  emu 
lous  ambition  of  the  nation,  not  less  than  it  will  secure  great 
and  permanent  advantages  to  its  trade,  to  have  the  American 
flag  and  a  national  vessel  the  first  to  receive  the  greetings  of 
the  population  who,  at  the  foot  of  the  Andes,  and  along  the 


508  POLITICAL    PAPERS. 

navigable  waters  of  inland  Brazil,  Bolivia,  and  Paraguay,  are 
ready  to  welcome  the  first  messenger  of  commerce  and  throw 
their  treasures  into  his  hands. 

Anticipating  the  near  approach  of  this  opportunity,  with 
your  approval,  I  admonished  Lieutenant  Page,  before  it  arrived, 
to  hold  himself  in  readiness  for  an  exploration  of  these  rivers, 
and  directed  the  steamer  Water  Witch  to  be  put  in  condition 
for  the  service.  She  is  now  nearly  equipped,  and  Lieutenant 
Page  will  be  ready  to  take  his  departure  at  the  first  moment 
that  the  steamer  may  be  fit  to  receive  him.  He  is  provided 
with  an  able  crew,  well  adapted  to  the  nature  of  his  expedition, 
and  seconded  by  officers  chosen  for  their  efficiency,  both  in  the 
sphere  of  seamanship  and  scientific  labor.  A  few  boats  are 
provided,  adapted  to  the  navigation  of  the  upper  streams 
above  their  falls ;  and  the  equipment,  though  of  simple  and 
unexpensive  kind,  will  be  in  all  respects  such  as  may  enable 
Lieutenant  Page  to  accomplish  the  duty  assigned  to  him. 

These  four  expeditions,  each  of  them  of  a  highly  interesting 
character,  and  likely  to  be  productive  of  results  which  will  be 
beneficially  felt  and  acknowledged  long  after  the  men  who 
may  procure  them  shall  have  passed  away,  constitute,  in  great 
part,  the  chief  and  most  important  topics  which  have  engross 
ed  the  care  of  the  Navy  Department  during  the  past  year. 

It  gives  me  pleasure  to  report,  in  connection  with  these,  the 
return  of  Lieutenant  Herndon,  to  whom  was  consigned,  in 
conjunction  with  Passed  Midshipman  (now  Lieutenant)  Gib 
bon,  an  exploration  of  the  valley  of  the  river  Amazon,  and  its 
tributaries.  These  officers  were  directed  to  cross  the  Cordil 
leras  in  Peru  and  Bolivia,  and  by  a  selection  of  the  most  ju 
dicious  routes  of  travel,  with  a  small  company  of  men,  for  the 
employment  of  whom  means  were  furnished  by  "this  Depart 
ment,  to  explore  the  valley  of  the  Amazon,  and  to  descend  that 
river  to  the  sea.  More  than  a  year  has  been  spent  in  the  act 
ive  prosecution  of  this  duty.  Lieutenant  Herndon  reached 
the  United  States  in  July  last,  bringing  with  him  a  large  amount 
of  interesting  and  useful  facts,  industriously  collected  by  him 


NAVAL    AFFAIRS.  509 

in  the  course  of  his  long  and  hazardous  journey,  embracing 
many  valuable  statistics  of  the  country,  and  adding  most  im 
portant  contributions  to  the  hitherto  unknown  geographical 
character  of  the  country.  He  is  now  engaged  in  preparing  a 
full  report  of  the  incidents  and  discoveries  of  his  travel,  which 
will  be  communicated  to  you  as  soon  as  it  is  placed  in  posses 
sion  of  this  Department.  I  beg  to  commend  Lieutenant  Hern- 
don  to  your  special  approbation  and  thanks  for  the  intelligence 
and  ability,  and  yet  more  for  the  high  professional  zeal,  he  has 
exhibited  in  the  performance  of  his  difficult  and  honorable 
duty. 

Lieutenant  Gibbon,  having  taken  a  different  route  from 
that  of  Lieutenant  Herndon,  has  not  yet  arrived,  but  may  be 
expected  in  the  course  of  the  winter.  When  he  returns  to  this 
city  the  result  of  his  work  will  be  submitted  to  your  notice. 

The  brig  Dolphin,  which  was  employed  during  the  last 
year,  under  the  command  of  Lieutenant  Lee,  in  a  survey  of 
portions  of  the  Atlantic,  for  the  purpose  of  ascertaining  the 
position  of  some  dangerous  rocks  and  shoals  which  were 
known  to  exist  in  the  routes  of  navigation  between  the  United 
States  and  Europe,  has  performed  useful  service,  of  which  the 
results  will  be  communicated  to  Congress.  This  work  being 
yet  incomplete,  the  Dolphin  has  again  been  dispatched  on  a 
second  cruise  of  the  same  character,  under  the  command  of 
Lieutenant  Berryman,  and  may  be  expected  to  accomplish  a 
work  which  will  tend,  in  no  small  degree,  to  lessen  the  haz 
ards  which  have  hitherto  embarrassed  the  voyages  of  our  mer 
chant  marine. 

Lady  Franklin,  whose  devotion  to  the  cause  of  her  unfor 
tunate  husband  has  excited  so  large  a  sympathy  in  the  United 
States,  has  been  encouraged  to  make  an  another  effort  to  de 
termine  the  fate  of  the  gallant  navigator  of  the  Arctic  sea,  and 
is  now  intent  upon  the  organization  of  a  new  expedition  under 
the  auspices  of  our  countrymen,  Mr.  Henry  Grinnell,  and  Mr. 
George  Peabody,  of  London.  Their  endeavor  will  be  directed 
to  an  exploration  of  the  upper  coasts  of  Greenland,  by  land  as 


510  POLITICAL    PAPERS. 

well  as  by  sea,  and  will  furnish  occasion  for  valuable  scientific 
observation  tending  to  the  ascertainment  of  the  magnetic  poles 
and  the  intensity  and  dip  of  the  needle,  and  interesting  also  to 
geological  questions  connected  with  the  supposed  existence  of 
an  open  polar  sea,  and  other  subjects  of  much  importance  in 
the  natural  history  of  our  globe.  Apart,  therefore,  from  its 
main  object,  there  is  much  in  the  projected  expedition  to  ex 
cite  a  high  degree  of  interest  in  its  results  both  in  Europe  and 
America. 

The  distinguished  lady  whose  sorrows  have  inspired  this 
zeal  of  adventure,  and  whose  energy  has  given  it  an  intelligent 
and  hopeful  direction,  has  done  no  more  than  justice  to  a  mer 
itorious  young  officer  of  our  navy,  Passed  Assistant  Surgeon 
Kane,  in  asking  his  co-operation  in  this  hazardous  exploit. 
Dr.  Kane  has  already  won  a  high  praise  from  his  countrymen 
by  his  intrepid  perseverance  in  facing  the  extraordinary  dan 
gers  of  the  last  expedition  on  the  same  errand  to  the  Arctic 
sea,  and  still  more  by  the  diligence  which,  guided  by  scientific 
accomplishments,  has  enabled  him  to  contribute  a  valuable 
fund  towards  the  illustration  of  a  subject  that  now  engrosses 
an  unusual  share  of  learned  investigation. 

The  request  of  Lady  Franklin  to  enlist  Dr.  Kane  in  the 
new  expedition  has  been  communicated  to  me,  and  I  have  not 
delayed  to  give  him  the  necessary  permission,  and  to  confer 
upon  him  all  the  benefit  he  may  derive  from  his  position  in  the 
navy,  by  an  order  which  puts  him  upon  special  service.  If  it 
should  become  requisite  in  the  field  of  operations  to  which  he 
is  destined  to  provide  him  with  means  for  the  prosecution  of 
scientific  discovery,  beyond  those  which  may  be  afforded  by 
the  Department  and  the  liberality  of  the  distinguished  gentle 
men  who  have  assumed  the  charge  of  this  expedition,  I  would 
commend  it  to  the  enlightened  regard  of  Congress,  with  the 
most  confident  hope  that  that  body  will  respond  to  the  sugges 
tions  of  this  necessity  with  a  prompt  appreciation  and  gener 
ous  support  of  an  undertaking  so  honorable  to  humanity  and 
so  useful  to  the  enlargement  of  liberal  science. 


NAVAL    AFFAIRS.  511 


The  Naval  Academy. 

The  Naval  Academy  at  Annapolis  presents  to  the  regard 
of  Congress  an  institution  worthy  of  the  highest  encourage 
ment. 

Under  a  judicious  and  energetic  administration  it  has  now 
reached  a  stage  in  its  progress  which  may  enable  the  Govern 
ment  to  form  a  satisfactory  estimate  of  its  influence  in  promo 
ting  and  sustaining  the  future  efficiency  of  the  navy. 

The  school  has  grown  up  to  its  present  stage  in  the  pro 
gressive  expansion  and  improvement  of  a  design  which,  in  its 
origin,  forbade  the  adoption  of  a  comprehensive  and  per 
manent  system  of  naval  educr  ~"~it  was  at  first  contrived 
to  supply  nothing  more  than  the  opportunity  of  prosecuting  a 
few  useful  studies  to  a  class  of  occasional  students,  who  were 
subject  to  all  the  interruptions  of  details  for  service  at  sea, 
and  who  were,  therefore,  not  in  a  condition  to  conform  to  the 
requirements  necessary  to  a  regular  course  of  professional  in 
struction.  The  obvious  insufficiency  of  this  mode  of  study 
soon  suggested  the  necessity  for  a  more  methodical  arrange 
ment.  A  plan  was  accordingly  devised  in  1850,  to  take 
effect  at  the  commencement  of  the  next  term  of  October,  , 
1851,  by  which  all  the  acting  midshipmen  of  the  date  of 
that  and  subsequent  years  should  be  inducted  into  the  school 
in  its  lowest  class,  and  proceed  in  due  order  through  a  pre 
scribed  course  of  naval  education,  which  is  specifically  adapted 
to  a  term  of  four  years.  The  series  of  studies  appropriate  to 
each  year  was  defined,  the  practice  of  gunnery  and  seaman 
ship  established,  and  the  whole  organization,  as  it  now  exists, 
completed.  The  classes  were  so  contrived  also  as  to  receive, 
according  to  an  appointed  succession,  the  acting  midshipmen 
of  dates  prior  to  1851,  who  by  this  provision  will,  in  the  space 
of  the  next  three  years,  have  had  the  opportunity  of  gradua 
ting  in  the  school. 

The  admissions  of  acting  midshipmen  to  the  navy,  and 
consequently  to  the  academy,  have  been  regulated  and  limited 


512  POLITICAL    PAPERS. 

by  several  laws,  of  which  the  combined  import  now  is  to  give 
to  each  State  and  Territory  its  relative  proportion  of  appoint 
ments,  determined  by  the  ratio  of  representation  in  Congress  and 
its  relation  to  the  whole  number  of  acting  and  passed  midship 
men  allowed  to  the  navy.  To  this  determination  of  the  quota  of 
appointments  appropriated  to  each  State  and  Territory  there 
has  been  added  an  allotment  of  a  fractional  share  to  each 
Congressional  district,  and  the  nomination  for  each  district 
has  been  conferred  upon  the  member  representing  it. 

The  whole  number  of  midshipmen,  including  past  mid 
shipmen,  allowed  to  the  navy,  is  four  hundred  and  sixty-four. 
The  number  of  representatives  and  delegates,  according  to 
the  last  census,  is  two  hundred  and  thirty-nine.  Each  repre 
sentative,  therefore,  is  entitled  by  the  existing  law  to  the  nomi 
nation  of  one  candidate  and  a  fraction  equal  to  225.239. 

No  provision  has  been  made  for  the  disposition  of  these 
fractions,  and  I  have  therefore  thought  myself  bound,  in  the  ab 
sence  of  any  other  regulation,  to  consult  the  wishes  of  at  least 
a  majority  of  the  representatives  entitled  to  the  fractional  part 
in  receiving  a  nomination  to  supply  the  vacancy. 

As  the  school  does  not  contain  more  than  a  fourth  of  the 
midshipmen  belonging  to  the  navy,  and  as  the  vacancies  in 
the  number  of  students  are  dependent  altogether  upon  the  pro 
motions  to  the  grade  of  lieutenants  and  upon  the  resignations, 
dismissals,  and  deaths  in  each  year  in  the  corps  of  midship 
men,  the  annual  nominations  to  the  school  must,  when  the 
entire  complement  of  midshipmen  is  regularly  filled,  be  com 
paratively  but  few  in  number.  The  present  condition  of  the  ser 
vice  supplies  but  a  small  ratio  of  promotions  ;  and,  if  it  were 
not  for  the  operation  of  the  resignations,  dismissals  and  deaths, 
it  is  manifest  that  the  yearly  recruits  to  be  added  to  the  school 
would  be  so  inconsiderable  in  numbers  as  to  forbid  any  hope 
of  extensive  usefulness  ;  while  the  fluctuating  character  of 
these  causes  which  produce  the  vacancies  tends  to  a  result 
scarcely  less  injurious. 

It  is,  indeed,  the  most  obvious  defect  in  the  present  organ- 


NAVAL    AFFAIRS.  513 

ization  of  the  academy  that  its  supply  of  students  is  liable  to 
these  contingencies  ;  for  while  the  classes  are  advancing  by 
regular  steps,  through  the  course  of  four  years'  study,  to  the 
term  at  which  they  must  leave  the  school  and  enter  into  the 
field  of  active  service,  the  vacancies  which  they  create  are  de 
pendent  upon  such  a  limited  fund  of  supply  as  must  ultimately 
reduce  the  number  of  pupils  below  the  quota  which  is  essen 
tial  to  the  administration  of  the  system. 

That  this  defect  has  not  already  been  visible  in  the  career 
of  the  academy  is  to  be  ascribed  only  to  the  fact  that,  up  to 
the  present  time,  the  members  of  the  institution  have  been  re 
cruited  from  the  grade  of  midshipmen  who  have  been  em 
ployed  at  sea  previous  to  the  new  arrangements,  adopted  and 
commenced  with  the  class  of  1851.  The  classes  heretofore 
have  been  furnished  out  of  this  corps,  in  addition  to  the 
annual  nominations.  When  this  resource  is  exhausted  and 
the  school  is  dependent  on  the  yearly  nominations  alone,  the 
defect  to  which  I  have  referred  will  be  fully  seen  and  felt.  It 
will  then  be  manifest  that  the  whole  number  at  the  school  can 
not  exceed,  at  any  time,  the  number  of  promotions  added  to 
the  occasional  vacancies  occurring  in  the  corps  of  midshipmen 
and  past  midshipmen  in  four  years. 

It  is  to  remedy  this  defect,  and  to  give  the  school  an  in 
herent  power  necessary  to  its  own  perpetuation,  and  to  make 
it  what  I  am  sure  the  country  desires  to  see  it,  a  vigorous  and 
healthful  institution,  completely  adapted  to  the  useful  ends  for 
which  it  was  ordained,  that  I  propose,  with  your  approbation, 
to  submit  to  Congress  the  following  change  in  its  fundamental 
structure. 

The  academy  should  be  composed  exclusively  of  cadets, 
or  young  men  who  are  received  as  candidates  for  admission 
to  the  navy.  Its  design  should  be  that  of  a  preparatory 
school  to  qualify  these  candidates  for  appointments,  and  they 
should  only  be  in  condition  to  be  selected  for  midshipmen 
when  they  had  successfully  passed  through  this  probation. 

If  this  principle  be  adopted   as  the  ground-work  of  the 

22* 


514:  POLITICAL    PAPERS. 

plan,  then  the  whole  number  of  cadets  to  be  nominated  for 
the  school  may  be  established  by  law.  For  the  present,  I 
suggest  that  this  number  may  be  fixed  at  two  hundred  and 
forty-eight.  It  may  be  altered  as  future  experience  may  re 
quire.  Of  this  number  of  two  hundred  and  forty-eight  who 
are  to  be  furnished  to  the  academy  every  four  years,  one-fourth, 
or  sixty-two,  should  be  nominated  for  admission  at  the  com 
mencement  of  each  yearly  term,  to  constitute  the  first  or 
lowest  class  of  the  school.  Of  this  whole  number  of  two 
hundred  and  forty-eight,  two  hundred  and  twenty-eight  might 
be  allotted  to  the  nomination  of  members  of  Congress,  appor 
tioning  them  to  each  State  according  to  the  ratio  of  represen 
tation,  and  requiring  the  nomination  to  the  vacancies  to  be 
made,  not  by  the  representative  singly,  but  by  the  united  coun 
sel  and  action  of  the  whole  representation  of  each  State,  in 
cluding  Senators  and  Representatives.  The  remaining  twenty 
of  the  two  hundred  and  forty-eight  may  be  given  with  advan 
tage  to  the  President. 

By  this  arrangement  Congress  would  be  called  on  to  nomi 
nate  fifty-seven  cadets  every  year,  and  the  President  five. 

The  classes  would  thus  commence  their  career  with  sixty- 
two  members,  and  this  number,  or  so  many  of  them  as  are 
not  dropped  in  the  progress  of  the  four  years,  would  represent 
the  annual  number  of  graduates.  Provision,  of  course,  should 
be  made  for  the  gradual  absorption  of  all  those  acting  mid 
shipmen  who,  under  the  present  system,  are  not  disposed  of. 
In  a  few  years  they  must  disappear,  after  which  the  organization 
of  the  cadets  would  be  undisturbed. 

In  addition  to  this  number  of  sixty-two  nominations  to  be 
made  in  each  year,  Congress  and  the  President  would  also 
have  the  appointment  to  such  vacancies  in  the  new  class  as 
might  arise  out  of  the  failure  of  the  first  candidates  to  pass 
the  preliminary  examinations  required  at  their  admission. 
The  vacancies  occasioned  by  subsequent  examinations,  and 
by  the  other  causes  operating  during  the  progress  of  the  classes 
through  the  term  of  the  four  years,  I  propose  should  not  be 


NAVAL  AFFAIRS.  515 

filled ;  but  the  classes,  after  their  commencement,  should  ad 
vance  to  the  end  of  the  term  of  study,  subject  to  all  the  inci 
dents  of  their  career  which  may  reduce  their  numbers.  The 
propriety  of  this  provision  will  be  recognized  when  it  is  ob 
served  that  a  vacancy  occurring  in  any  class  after  it  has  become 
advanced  in  its  studies  could  not  be  supplied,  at  that  ad 
vanced  stage,  by  a  new  appointment  to  the  school.  The  class 
would  still  go  on  in  its  reduced  state,  while  the  supply  of  a 
vacancy  occurring  in  it  could  only  operate  to  the  undue  in 
crease  of  the  lowest  class  of  beginners,  and  would  thus  pro 
duce  a  periodical  and  inconvenient  increase  of  graduates  for 
whom  no  allotment  could  be  made  in  the  navy. 

Assuming  sixty-two  as  the  number  which  shall  always  be 
supplied  to  the  lowest  class  or  beginners  of  the  school,  we 
have  reason  to  believe,  from  the  data  afforded  by  the  experience 
of  West  Point,  that  the  annual  number  of  graduates  would 
not  exceed  some  twenty-five  or  thirty,  it  being  found,  in  the 
general  operation  of  the  system,  that  the  graduates  do  not 
bear  a  greater  average  proportion  to  the  admissions  than  forty 
per  cent.  Upon  this  basis  it  may  be  estimated  that  these 
twenty-five  or  thirty  may  be  looked  to  as  the  ordinary  yearly 
resource  for  the  supply  of  young  officers  to  the  navy. 

I  propose,  in  the  next  place,  that  the  law  should  establish 
the  corps  of  midshipmen  for  the  service  at  two  hundred  and 
fifty.  These  should  be  recognized  as  midshipmen  only,  and 
be  subject  to  all  the  understood  and  appropriate  duties  of  that 
class  of  officers.  They  should  then  be  consigned  to  service 
on  board  of  ships  of  war,  and,  after  six  months'  employment 
at  sea,  should,  upon  examination  and  approval  by  a  compe 
tent  board,  be  entitled  to  the  midshipman's  warrant,  bearing 
the  date  of  the  graduation  at  the  school ;  and  after  three 
years'  service  at  sea  and  another  examination,  they  should  be 
noted  for  promotion  to  a  higher  grade,  which  I  propose  should 
be  created  by  law,  and  denominated  masters.  The  grade  of 
passed  midshipmen  should  be  abolished  as  soon  as  the  gradual 
promotion  of  the  corps  may  allow.  It  is  an  anomaly  in  the 


516  POLITICAL    PAPERS. 

naval  service,  presenting  a  class  of  officers  to  whom  no  duty 
is  specifically  assigned,  and  constantly  engendering  discon 
tent  when  the  duties  of  ordinary  midshipmen  are  required  of 
it.  This  class  now  perform  the  duty  of  masters,  and  I  think 
it  but  proper  that  the  duty  and  the  rank  should  be  associated 
by  law.  The  change  would  require  no  increase  of  pay,  and 
would,  I  have  no  doubt,  be  productive  of  good  effects. 

The  grade  of  masters  might  be  established  at  one  hun 
dred,  and  might  at  once  be  filled  by  appointing  to  it  that  num 
ber  of  passed  midshipmen.  The  ultimate  result  of  this  plan  would 
give,  when  all  the  present  passed  midshipmen  shall  have  been 
absorbed  in  the  regular  course  of  promotion,  two  hundred  and 
fifty  midshipmen  and  one  hundred  masters  to  occupy  the  space 
now  filled  by  the  corps  of  four  hundred  and  sixty-four  officers — 
a  reduction  of  one  hundred  and  fourteen.  This  reduction  of 
course  would  increase  the  ratio  of  promotion  to  the  corps  of  lieu 
tenants,  and  would  leave  a  sufficient  complement  for  all  the  de 
mands  of  the  service,  estimated" by  the  present  size  of  the  navy. 
A  future  increase  of  the  navy  would  suggest  a  proportionate  in 
crease  of  officers  of  every  grade. 

The  promotions  incident  to  this  organization  of  the  corps 
—that  is  to  say,  of  two  hundred  and  fifty  midshipmen  and 
one  hundred  masters — would  supply  about  twenty-five  vacan 
cies  a  year.  The  present  number  of  higher  officers  fur 
nish  something  near  this  yearly  average,  and  there  is  no 
reason  to  suppose  that  it  will  be  reduced  in  future  ;  the  more 
active  service  of  the  navy,  even  on  the  present  establishment, 
may  rather  increase  it.  The  school,  therefore,  may  be  re 
garded  as  subject  to  an  annual  demand  for  this  number  of  its 
graduates  to  be  advanced  into  the  regular  line  of  service. 
Estimating  the  number  of  graduates  at  twenty-five,  the  whole 
of  them  would  thus  find  position  and  employment  ;  an  in 
crease  of  thirty  would  of  course  give  a  remainder  of  five, 
which  may  also  be  disposed  of. 

I  propose,  in  further  organization  of  this  system,  to  construct 
a  scientific  corps  in  the  navy,  to  be  established  as  the  hydro- 


NAVAL    AFFAIRS.  5 IT 

graphical  corps  ;  this  corps  to  be  designed,  in  its  first  formation, 
upon  a  basis  which  shall  provide  for  thirty  masters,  thirty  lieu 
tenants,  fifteen  commanders,  and  five  captains — making  eighty 
in  all.  It  should  be  especially  educated  for  that  scientific  pro 
fessional  service  in  which  some  portion  of  the  navy  is  constant 
ly  employed.  Its  chief  duties  should  be  connected  with  hydro- 
graphical  surveys,  astronomical  observations,  construction  of 
charts,  preparation  and  improvement  of  ordnance,  the  super 
vision  of  naval  architecture  and  machinery,  and  the  direction 
of  civil  engineering  in  the  construction  of  docks  and  other 
structures  requiring  scientific  knowledge  and  skill. 

The  corps  should  be  entirely  separate  from  and  independ 
ent  of  the  regular  naval  service.  Its  line  of  promotion  should 
be  confined  to  its  own  organization,  and  its  government  should 
be  under  its  own  proper  officers.  In  addition  to  the  duties  as 
signed  to  it  on  shore  and  in  hydrographical  surveys,  some  por 
tion  of  it  might  be  appropriated  to  service  at  sea,  and  one  or 
more  officers  of  the  corps  might  be  introduced  into  the  com 
plements  of  squadrons  on  foreign  or  home  service.  An  expe 
rienced  officer  of  this  corps  would  find  useful  and  active  duty 
upon  every  cruise.  It  should  be  left  to  the  Navy  Department 
to  regulate  the  character  and  contingencies  of  this  service  and 
to  make  all  the  necessary  rules  and  orders  for  its  application. 

This  corps  should  be  built  up  under  the  direction  of  the 
Secretary  of  the  Navy  from  the  material  afforded  by  the  acad 
emy,  with  such  additions  to  it,  in  its  commencement,  from  the 
regular  line  of  naval  service,  as  in  his  judgment  the  qualifica 
tions  of  the  present  officers  might  enable  him  to  make  with 
advantage. 

With  a  view  to  the  supply  of  this  corps  from  the  academy, 
I  propose  that,  upon  the  yearly  examination  of  the  graduates, 
the  Board  of  Examination  shall  be  directed  to  bestow  a  close 
attention  upon  the  class  submitted  to  them,  in  order  to  ascer 
tain  the  particular  adaptation  of  any  of  the  graduates  to  this 
species  of  service,  and  that  they  shall  report  to  the  Department 
the  names  of  such  as  they  may  find  qualified  by  study,  talent, 


5 IS  POLITICAL    PAPERS. 

and  acquirement  for  admission  to  the  corps  ;  and  if,  upon  this 
report,  the  students  so  designated  shall  consent  to  enter  the 
corps,  they,  or  so  many  of  them  as  the  established  complement 
of  the  hydrographical  corps  may  require,  shall  be  appropriated 
to  that  service ;  and,  upon  being  so  appropriated,  they  shall  be 
returned  to  the  academy  for  an  additional  course  of  study  of 
two  years,  during  which  they  shall  be  employed  in  obtaining  a 
thorough  knowledge  of  the  higher  branches  of  civil  engineering, 
hydrography,  astronomy,  mechanism,  and  gunnery,  in  conform 
ity  with  the  best  system  of  instruction  which  the  academy  may 
be  able  to  furnish.  At  the  end  of  this  probation  of  two  years 
they  shall  be  subjected  to  a  final  examination,  and,  upon  a  rec 
ommendation  to  that  effect,  shall  be  admitted  to  the  rank  of 
masters  in  the  hydrographical  corps.  Five  years'  service  in 
this  grade  should  entitle  them  to  be  promoted  to  lieutenants, 
as  vacancies  may  happen,  and  the  promotions  thenceforward 
should  await  the  ordinary  incidents  of  the  corps  which  may  sup 
ply  the  proper  occasion. 

If  the  Department  should  be  able  to  contribute  any  mem 
bers  to  the  corps  from  the  present  officers  of  the  service,  I 
think  such  appointments  should  not  exceed  twenty  to  each 
grade  of  masters  and  lieutenants  and  ten  commanders,  and, 
that  no  captain  be  appointed  until  after  five  years'  service  in 
the  corps,  there  may  be  found  the  proper  officers  to  occupy  the 
vacancies  in  this  grade.  It  should  also  be  well  understood 
that  the  Secretary  of  the  Navy,  in  assigning  present  officers  to 
the  corps,  should  be  governed  alone  in  his  selection  by  high 
qualifications  and  accomplishment  in  the  science  required,  and 
not  by  seniority  in  the  service ;  and  that  no  appointments 
should  be  made  unless  there  be  found  officers  of  approved 
reputation  for  their  acquirements  in  reference  to  this  service 
who  may  be  willing  to  enter  the  corps. 

The  yearly  graduates  of  the  academy  will,  according  to  this 
system,  be  assigned  to  the  two  branches  of  service  I  have  de 
scribed  ;  that  is  to  say,  to  the  regular  naval  service  and  to  the 
hydrographical  corps.  The  graduates  required  for  these  two 


NAVAL    AFFAIRS.  519 

branches  should  be  selected  from  those  who  are  adjudged  by 
the  board  of  examination  to  stand  highest  on  the  roll  of  the 
class ;  and  if  at  any  time  it  should  happen  that  the  requisitions 
should  not  embrace  the  whole  number  of  graduates  in  each 
year,  then  those  whose  services  are  not  required,  being  the 
lowest  on  the  roll,  should  receive  an  honorable  discharge  from 
the  school.  These  would  return  to  the  occupations  of  private 
life  well  educated  by  the  bounty  of  the  Government,  and  qual 
ified  for  useful  employment  in  the  many  important  vocations 
connected  with  commerce  and  navigation,  and  especially  in  the 
various  service  of  steamships,  which  create  so  large  a  demand 
for  expert  and  accomplished  officers.  In  whatever  situation 
they  may  be  placed,  they  will  find  abundant  occasion  to  rejoice 
in  the  advantages  they  shall  have  obtained  at  the  school,  and,  by 
the  proper  use  of  these  advantages,  indemnify  the  country  for  the 
care  and  expense  it  may  have  bestowed  upon  their  culture. 
These  conditions  and  incidents  of  an  admission  to  the  academy 
being  understood  in  advance,  both  by  the  cadet  and  his  friends, 
it  is  presumed,  will  prepare  them  to  regard  the  discharge  in 
its  true  point  of  view,  as  the  necessary  contingency  of  a  most 
important  good  conferred,  and  not  as  a  disappointment  which 
should  occasion  regret.  If,  on  the  other  hand,  it  should  turn 
out  that  the  annual  number  of  graduates  should  not  be  adequate 
to  the  demands  of  these  two  branches  of  service,  the  basis  of 
sixty-two  in  the  class  of  beginners  may  be  increased  to  the  num 
ber  at  which  experience  may  show  that  the  desirable  result  may 
be  obtained.  It  will  be  easy,  after  the  experiment  of  a  few 
years,  to  ascertain  this  number  with  sufficient  precision,  and 
as  in  the  mean  time  the  hydrographic  corps  is  to  be  filled,  the 
extra  supply  of  the  classes  for  the  next  three  years,  by  the  ad 
mission  of  the  midshipmen  of  dates  prior  to  1851,  will  very  op 
portunely  enlarge  the  classes  to  a  number  which  will  satisfy  that 
requisition. 

In  arranging  the  complement  of  officers  to  the  hydrographic 
corps,  I  have  proceeded  upon  a  conjectural  estimate  of  what  I 
suppose  may  be  found  necessary  to  the  service  required  of  it. 


520  POLITICAL    PAPERS. 

I  submit  this  to  the  judgment  of  Congress  for  such  alterations 
in  the  grades  and  numbers  as  their  investigations  of  the  sub 
ject  may  suggest.  I  have  thought  it  safest  to  propose  a  num 
ber  rather  below  what  I  think  the  service  may  ultimately  de 
mand,  as  it  is  easier  to  increase  this  complement  than  to  reduce 
it.  It  is  proper  for  me  to  say  also  that,  in  assigning  five  cap 
tains  to  this  corps,  I  may  have  exceeded  the  number  which 
may  be  appropriate  to  the  organization.  But  as  no  captain, 
according  to  this  plan,,  could  be  appointed  before  the  lapse  of 
five  years,  the  experience  which  may  be  gained  in  the  interval 
may  enable  Congress,  before  that  period  has  gone  by,  to  adjust 
this  grade  to  its  proper  number  and  assign  to  it  its  appropriate 
duties.  It  may  be  hereafter  looked  to  for  the  supply  of  the 
head  of  the  engineer  department,  the  superintendents  of  naval 
architecture  and  construction,  the  general  supervision  of  hy- 
drographical  surveys,  and  the  management  of  the  Naval  Acad 
emy.  If  these  functions  may  be  efficiently  discharged  by  it, 
the  number  I  have  assigned  will  not  be  too  large. 

These  are  the  general  views  and  considerations  which  have 
induced  me  to  submit  this  plan  to  your  approval  and  to  the 
consideration  of  Congress. 

It  will  afford  the  annual  appointment  of  sixty-two  candi 
dates  for  the  navy. 

It  will  give  greater  permanency  and  efficiency  to  the  school. 

It  will  quicken  promotion  in  the  navy,  and  give  to  the 
younger  officers  hope  of  useful  command  while  they  yet  possess 
the  vigor  and  ambition  of  youth. 

It  will  establish  a  valuable  corps  of  scientific  officers  who 
will  bring  to  the  service  equal  devotion  to  the  prosperity  of  the 
navy  and  the  highest  attainments  to  promote  it. 

And  it  may  occasionally  give  to  the  country  men  carefully 
educated  in  useful  knowledge,  and  bound  by  the  strongest  ob 
ligation  of  gratitude  and  honor  to  requite  this  public  bounty 
by  laudable  service  in  the  employments  of  civil  life. 

I  think  it  proper,  in  presenting  this  new  organization  of  the 
school  and  of  the  officers  which  it  is  intended  to  supply,  to  ask 


NAVAL    AFFAIRS.  521 

of  Congress  that  the  grade  of  master  in  the  service  shall  be 
entitled  to  a  commission  and  recognized  in  that  character 
by  law.  The  masters  are  ward-room  officers,  and  should  be 
placed  among  the  commissioned  officers  of  the  navy.  No 
change  of  pay  is  necessary,  and  in  that  respect  they  may  be 
left  upon  their  present  footing. 

It  must  be  observed  that  some  years  will  elapse,  if  this  or 
ganization  be  now  authorized  by  law,  before  it  can  be  rendered 
complete  ;  and  the  sooner,  therefore,  that  it  is  adopted  the  better. 

The  present  class  of  passed  midshipmen  numbers  two  hun 
dred  and  sixteen.  These  are  to  be  disposed  of.  One  hundred 
of  them  may  be  commissioned  as  masters,  and  the  grade  may 
be  at  once  established  at  that  number  by  law.  The  remaining 
hundred  and  sixteen  would  be  gradually  absorbed  by  the  grade 
of  masters  in  a  few  years ;  after  which  the  system  will  work  ac 
cording  to  its  permanent  regulation. 

The  present  number  of  acting  midshipmen  is  two  hundred 
and  six,  of  which  the  school  contains,  by  the  last  report,  eighty- 
one.  Five  appointments  have  been  made  for  the  next  term, 
and  there  are  yet  thirty-seven  vacancies.  To  the  nominations 
already  made  for  the  new  class  of  beginners  to  the  next  term 
of  October,  1853,  may  be  added  at  once,  with  the  thirty-seven 
vacancies,  as  many  as  may  be  necessary  to  make  sixty-two. 
The  classes  should  then  advance  regularly  to  the  end  of  their 
respective  terms,  without  additions,  and  the  law  may  provide 
for  the  annual  supply  henceforth  of  sixty-two,  in  the  manner  I 
have  indicated.  The  grade  of  midshipmen  might  be  at  once 
declared  to  be  limited  to  two  hundred  and  fifty,  and  the  filling 
of  that  complement  should  await  the  supply  it  may  hereafter 
obtain  from  the  graduates. 

If  any  of  the  present  grade  of  passed  midshipmen  and 
masters  should  be  found  qualified  for  admission  to  the  hydro- 
graphic  corps,  the  vacancies  which  may  be  made  by  their  ap 
pointment  to  it  may  be  filled  by  promotion,  and  so  hasten  the 
period  at  which  the  new  organization  may  be  brought  into  full 
operation. 


522  POLITICAL    PAPERS. 

The  school  has  yet  to  receive  some  classes  of  midshipmen 
of  the  date  previous  to  1851.  When  admitted,  they  will  con 
stitute  an  extra  portion  beyond  the  quota  allowed  to  the  acad 
emy,  and  I  would  suggest  in  regard  to  them  that  they  should 
be  permitted,  as  heretofore,  to  constitute  a  part  of  any  class  for 
which  they  may  be  qualified,  and  upon  their  graduation  to  be 
entitled  to  their  advancement  to  the  proper  grade ;  it  being 
mainly  important  to  provide  at  present  that  each  yearly  class 
of  new  admissions  should  be  constituted  of  the  appointed  num 
ber  of  sixty-two,  and  in  no  event  to  exceed  that  number.  The 
future  organization  of  the  school  will  necessarily  follow  upon 
the  observance  of  this  provision. 

In  proper  connection  with  this  subject  cf  the  academy,  it 
is  my  duty  to  apprise  you  that  I  have  recently  adopted  regulations 
for  the  government  of  apprentices  to  be  admitted  at  the  several 
navy  yards  and  workshops  under  the  control  of  this  Department. 
The  propriety  of  these  regulations  has  been  suggested  by  the 
bureau  of  yards  and  docks,  and  I  am  indebted  to  the  intelligent 
labors  of  three  distinguished  officers  of  the  Department,  Com 
modores  Morris,  Shubrick,  and  Smith,  to  whom  I  referred  the 
subject  for  a  report,  which  I  have  received,  and  which  will  be 
found  among  the  documents  accompanying  this  communication. 
The  report  presents  the  regulations  which  I  have  approved. 
The  number  of  apprentices  as  established,  for  the  present,  by 
this  system,  is  eighty-three.  They  are  required  to  undergo  an 
examination  twice  in  each  year,  and  after  the  first  year,  those 
most  distinguished  in  the  previous  trials  are  to  be  subjected  to 
another  of  a  still  more  extensive  and  rigorous  character,  upon 
which  such  as  shall  be  reported  as  worthy  of  the  highest  appro 
bation  and  reward,  and  as  demonstrating  talent  adapted  to  emi 
nence  in  the  public  service,  are  to  be  commended  to  the  Sec 
retary  of  the  Navy  for  such  further  advantages  of  instruction 
as  he  may  have  it  in  his  power  to  confer. 

I  regard  it  as  a  most  salutary  power  to  be  invested  in  the 
Secretary  of  the  Navy,  for  the  beneficial  performance  of  the 
duty  thus  assigned  to  him,  that  he  should  have  authority  to 


NAVAL    AFFAIRS.  523 

admit  into  the  Naval  Academy  those  apprentices  whose  good 
conduct  and  capabilities  shall  have  earned  this  distinction,  and 
to  provide  that  they  should  there  be  conducted  through  a 
course  of  study  appropriated  to  their  intended  future  vocations, 
and  calculated  to  advance  them  in  mathematical  and  mechan 
ical  science,  under  such  regulations  in  regard  to  the  term  of 
their  application,  their  duties  and  deportment,  as  the  Navy 
Department  might  think  it  expedient  to  adopt.  Having  com 
pleted  this  course  of  study,  they  should  be  returned  to  the 
yards  from  which  they  may  have  been  received,  or  allotted  to 
suitable  employments  in  the  service. 

It  would  be  a  useful  provision  in  this  scheme  to  give  to  the 
young  men  so  educated  a  preference  in  the  admissions  to  the 
corps  of  engineers  for  steamships,  for  which  appointments 
their  education  would  particularly  qualify  them  ;  their  admis 
sion  into  that  corps,  nevertheless,  to  be  dependent  upon  suc 
cessful  examination  and  a  favorable  certificate  to  moral  and 
intellectual  character. 

In  the  operation  of  this  scheme  the  navy  would  derive  the 
benefit  of  the  best  talents  and  acquirement  for  the  supply  of 
engineers,  naval  architects,  and  constructors  and  superintend 
ents  in  the  various  departments  of  mechanical  employment 
connected  with  the  service. 

I  take  great  pleasure  in  presenting  this  subject  to  your  ap 
proval  and  to  the  attention  of  Congress. 

In  view  of  this  reorganization  of  the  academy,  I  submit,  also, 
as  a  question  worthy  of  consideration,  whether  it  would  not 
be  a  salutary  provision  to'  require  that  the  officers  of  the  ma 
rine  corps  should  be  prepared  for  that  service  by  an  education 
at  the  school.  My  own  opinion  is  that  it  would  be  attended 
by  manifest  advantage,  both  as  respects  the  necessary  accom 
plishment  for  naval  service  in  that  corps,  and  the  personal 
character  and  deportment  of  the  officers  belonging  to  it.  It  is 
among  the  incidents  of  their  employment  that  they  are  some 
times  required  to  perform  important  military  duties  on  shore 
in  which  a  necessity  is  found  for  that  species  of  knowledge 


524  POLITICAL    PAPERS. 

only  to  be  obtained  in  the  military  or  naval  school ;  and  in  ev 
ery  service  to  which  they  are  called  it  is  quite  apparent  that 
this  knowledge,  and  the  spirit  to  appreciate  the  duties  of  com 
mand  that  is  inseparable  from  it,  must  increase  the  efficiency 
of  the  officer  and  elevate  the  character  of  the  corps  to  which  he 
is  attached.  If  these  considerations  should  influence  the  opin 
ion  of  Congress  as  they  do  my  own,  they  will  suggest  the  ex 
pediency  of  making  the  provision  to  which  I  have  invited  their 
attention. 

In  concluding  this  notice  of  the  naval  academy,  it  is  due  to 
Commander  Stribling,  who  has  charge  of  the  institution,  and 
to  the  officers,  professors,  and  assistants  under  his  command, 
to  say  that  the  assiduity  and  intelligence  with  which  they  have 
performed  the  laborious  and  complicated  duties  assigned  to 
them  merit  the  highest  approbation  ;  and  that  the  prosperous 
condition  of  the  school  and  admirable  arrangement  of  its  de 
tails,  particularly  manifested  in  the  deportment  and  proficiency 
of  the  young  men  confided  to  their  care,  eminently  entitle  it 
to  the  favorable  opinion  and  encouragement  of  the  Govern 
ment. 

I  particularly  commend  to  the  notice  of  Congress  the  con 
sideration  of  the  appropriations  asked  for  by  the  Bureau  of  Ord 
nance  and  Hydrography,  for  the  improvements  necessary  to 
purchase  the  grounds  and  complete  the  buildings  required  by 
the  academy. 

Organization  and  Discipline  of  Seamen. 

There  is  no  subject  connected  with  the  prosperity  of  the 
navy  that,  in  my  estimate,  better  deserves  the  attention  of  Con 
gress  than  that  relating  to  the  condition  of  the  corps  of  mar 
iners,  which  constitutes  the  great  working  force  in  the  naviga 
tion  and  management  of  the  public  vessels. 

In  obedience  to  a  sentiment  which  is  prevalent  throughout 
the  country,  and  which  is  naturally  suggested  by  those  impulses 
that  distinctively  characterize  the  opinions  and  habits  of  our 
people,  Congress  has  been  recently  led  to  the  consideration 


NAVAL    AFFAIRS.  525 

of  the  ^ordinary  mode  of  punishment,  which  it  had  heretofore 
been  supposed  was  necessary  to  the  preservation  of  the  discip 
line  of  the  navy.  The  result  of  this  consideration  has  been 
the  passage  of  a  law  for  the  entire  abolition  of  corporal  pun 
ishment  on  board  of  our  ships,  both  public  and  private.  This 
punishment — which,  for  a  long  time,  has  been  practiced  in  the 
navy  and  commercial  marine  not  only  without  question  as  to 
its  efficacy  in  maintaining  the  proper  observance  of  duty  on 
shipboard,  but  which,  indeed,  had  become  so  incorporated  in 
the  sober  conviction  of  both  officers  and  men,  as  an  indispen 
sable  necessity  of  the  service,  that  it  had  grown  to  be  the  most 
unquestioned  usage  and  generally  received  incident  of  naval 
discipline — many  judicious  persons  believed  might  be  dispensed 
with,  not  only  most  acceptably  to  the  feelings  of  the  nation, 
but  also  without  disadvantage  to  the  service.  The  adoption 
of  this  opinion  by  Congress,  in  the  passage  of  the  act  of  Sep 
tember,  1850,  which  forbade  the  accustomed  penalty,  without 
providing  a  substitute  for  it,  has  afforded  the  navy  the  oppor 
tunity  to  make  the  experiment.  I  very  sincerely  regret  to  say 
that  the  records  of  this  Department,  as  well  as  the  almost  en 
tire  concurrence  of  facts  and  opinions,  brought  to  my  notice 
from  authentic  sources,  and  vouched  by  intelligent  and  experi 
enced  observers,  all  tend  to  indicate  a  most  unsatisfactory  result. 
The  omission  of  Congress  to  provide  for  the  punishment  of 
what  may  be  called  minor  offences  against  discipline  and  good 
order  on  shipboard  may,  perhaps,  account  in  part  for  the  fail 
ure  ;  but  the  fact  of  the  most  serious  detriment  to  the  efficiency 
of  our  service  is  so  unhapily  forced  upon  my  attention,  as  the 
effect  of  the  recent  change,  that  it  becomes  the  gravest  of  my 
duties  at  this  time  to  lay  the  subject  once  more  before  Con 
gress,  and  to  ask  its  attention  to  the  consideration  of  such  a 
corrective  to  the  present  condition  of  the  service  as  I  am  con 
fident  it  must  find  to  be  indispensable  to  the  proper  govern 
ment  of  the  navy.  We  have  evidence  furnished  to  this  De 
partment,  in  the  history  of  almost  every  cruise,  of  acts  of  in 
subordination  that  not  only  impair  the  usefulness  of  our  ships, 


526  POLITICAL    PAPERS. 

but  which  tend  also  to  the  gradual  development  of  habits 
among  the  seamen  that  threaten  to  lead  to  extensive  and  un 
controllable  mutinies.  The  multiplication  of  courts-martial, 
and  all  the  consequences  of  an  increase  of  disorder  and  crime, 
are  among  the  least  of  the  apparent  and  growing  evils  of  the 
new  system.  The  demoralization  of  both  men  and  officers  is 
a  yet  more  observable  consequence.  The  absence  or  prohibi 
tion  of  the  usual  punishments  known  to  seamen  has  led  to  the 
invention  of  new  penalties  of  the  most  revolting  kind,  in  the 
application  of  which  full  scope  has  been  given  and  the  strong 
est  provocations  administered  to  that  exhibition  of  temper  and 
passions  which,  however  natural  it  may  be  to  men  of  hasty  and 
excitable  natures,  is  seldom  indulged  without  leading  to  cruel 
ties  that  must  disgrace  those  who  practice  them  ;  and,  what  is 
more  to  be  feared,  raise  a  sentiment  in  the  public  mind  hostile 
to  the  navy  itself.  The  seaman,  believing  himself  exempt 
from  the  speedy  penalty  of  disobedience  or  neglect  of  duty,  and 
looking  with  indifference  to  the  remote  and  uncertain  proceed 
ing  of  a  court-martial  upon  his  delinquency,  grows  habitually 
contumacious  to  his  superiors,  and  infuses  the  same  sentiment 
into  his  comrades  ;  and  in  the  very  fact  of  the  diffusion  of  this 
spirit  of  insubordination  finds  ground  to  hope  for  immunity 
from  punishment — naturally  enough  believing  that  what  has 
grown  to  be  common  and  frequent  will  also  come  to  be  more 
lightly  considered  when  he  is  summoned  to  a  trial  at  the  end 
of  his  cruise.  It  may  excite  some  surprise  in  the  statement 
of  what  I  learn  to  be  true,  that  the  most  frequent  complaints 
against  the  abolition  of  corporal  punishment  are  made,  in  great 
part,  by  the  seamen  themselves.  The  difficulties  arising  out 
of  its  abrogation,  and  the  absence  of  any  substitute  for  it, 
now  constitute  the  most  prominent  obstacles  to  the  ready  sup 
ply  of  our  squadrons  with  seamen.  This  Department  is  famil 
iar  with  complaints  from  the  recruiting  stations  of  the  difficulty 
of  enlisting  the  better  class  of  seamen.  Of  that  large  number 
of  men  who  have  heretofore  constituted  the  pride  of  our  navy, 
by  their  good  seamanship  and  highly  respectable  personal  de- 


NAVAL   AFFAIRS.  527 

portment,  comprising,  I  rejoice  to  say,  the  great  body  of  the 
manners  who  have  sustained  the  honor  and  glory  of  our  flag  in 
its  most  perilous  as  well  as  in  its  most  useful  career — of  these 
men,  it  is  a  fact  which  invites  the  deepest  concern  of  Congress, 
we  are  daily  deprived,  by  their  refusal  to  enter  again  into  the 
service  until,  as  they  ask,  they  shall  have  some  assurance  that 
a  better  system  of  discipline  may  be  restored.  They  reasona 
bly  complain  that,  while  the  worst  portions  of  the  crew  are 
placed  under  arrest,  and  are  exempt,  in  consequence,  from  the 
severe  duties  of  the  deck,  they  find  their  toil  increased  by  the 
constantly  recurring  exigencies  which  compel  them,  for  weeks 
and  months,  during  a  cruise,  to  perform  the  extra  work  which 
the  reduction  of  the  force  of  the  ship  inevitably  throws  upon 
them.  So  oppressively  is  this  evil  felt,  that  I  have  reason  to 
believe,  if  the  best  seamen,  who  have  heretofore  been  accus 
tomed  to  man  our  ships,  could  find  an  occasion  to  express 
their  wishes  to  Congress,  a  majority  of  the  whole  number  would 
be  seen  to  prefer  a  restoration  of  that  form  of  punishment, 
which  has  been  forbidden,  rather  than  be  subject  to  the  sever 
ities  imposed  upon  them  by  the  present  condition  of  disorder 
in  the  naval  discipline. 

Looking  at  this  state  of  things  in  the  navy,  I  think  the  oc 
casion  propitious  to  the  adoption  of  a  new  system  for  the  or 
ganization  and  government  of  the  whole  material  constituting 
the  crews  of  our  ships ;  and  I  take  advantage  of  the  present 
time  to  submit  to  your  consideration  the  outline  of  a  plan, 
which  I  trust  will  engage  your  attention,  and  receive  the  ap 
probation  of  Congress. 

The  supply  of  our  navy  with  seamen  has  heretofore  been 
obtained  by  a  system  of  enlistment,  modelled,  in  its  principal 
elements,  upon  the  plan  adopted  in  Great  Britain,  from  which 
nation  we  have  derived,  by  old  habit  and  national  descent, 
the  general  features  of  our  marine.  Like  England,  we  have 
looked  to  our  commercial  navigation  for  the  reinforcement  of 
the  men  of  the  navy.  We  enlist  the  mercantile  seamen  for  the 
national  cruise,  discharging  and  paying  them  off  when  it  is  fin- 


528  POLITICAL    PAPERS. 

ished,  and  returning  them  to  the  merchant  service.  The  navy, 
in  general,  has  been  sufficiently  attractive  to  the  sailor  to  be 
able  to  secure  his  service  when  needed ;  and  this  mode  of  en 
listment  being  an  easy  and  accessible  resource,  but  little  con 
sideration  has  heretofore  been  bestowed  upon  its  effect  either 
on  the  navy  itself  or  upon  the  seamen.  To  the  navy  it  has 
given  a  large  and  meritorious  class  of  mariners,  not  unmixed, 
however,  with  many  of  a  different  character,  and  from  that 
mixture  itself  requiring  a  prompt  and  effective  system  of  pun 
ishment  adapted  to  secure  a  ready  discharge  of  duty  in  every 
emergency.  The  effect  of  the  system  upon  the  men  of  the 
navy  has  been  overlooked,  or,  if  regarded  at  all,  it  has  not  at 
tracted  the  attention  of  the  public  authorities.  The  sailor  is, 
in  general,  upon  shore,  a  helpless  being.  Between  himself  and 
all  around  him  there  is  a  palpable  incongruity.  He  has  come 
off  a  long  cruise  and  has  earned  some  three  or  four  hundred 
dollars.  He  has  no  home  ;  often  no  friends  but  his  comrades. 
He  knows  no  thrift,  no  saving  economy ;  has  no  adviser. 
His  only  outlook  is  for  some  pastime,  and  his  idea  of  that  is 
confined  to  sensual  enjoyment.  Every  one  is  familiar  with  his 
history  in  his  brief  sojourn  on  shore.  He  is  a  victim  to  that 
class  of  persons  who  pander  to  his  appetites  and  who  plunder 
him  of  his  earnings.  Necessity  and  inclination  very  soon 
drive  him  back  to  the  sea,  where  he  finds  his  natural  home 
and  the  only  friends  who  can  understand  his  character  and 
sympathize  with  it.  It  is  very  apparent  that  a  man  so  organ 
ized  and  circumstanced  stands  very  much  in  need  of  better 
culture  than  this  course  of  life  affords.  A  discreet  attention 
to  his  condition  by  the  Government,  with  a  few  salutary  regu 
lations  that  may  teach  him  more  thrift  and  furnish  him  guid 
ance  and  encouragement,  will  make  him  more  useful  as  a  citi 
zen,  or  at  least  more  self-dependent  and  respectable  in  his  in 
dividual  character,  and  render  him  at  the  same  time  certainly 
not  less  useful  in  his  profession. 

I  propose,  for  the   consideration  of  Congress,  a  plan  for 
the  reorganization  of  this  portion  of  the  navy,  which,  if  matured 


NAVAL    AFFAIRS.  529 

by  such  experience  as  the  future  practice  of  it  may  afford,  will, 
I  am  confident,  enhance  the  respectability  and  value  of  our 
seamen,  and  secure  to  the  country  a  most  efficient  corps  of 
men  permanently  devoted  to  the  public  service. 

I  think  it  cannot  be  doubted  that  the  successful  application 
of  the  navy  to  the  purposes  for  which  it  is  designed  would  be 
better  assured  by  the  services  of  a  well-disciplined  and  care 
fully-maintained  body  of  seamen  permanently  attached  to  the 
public  naval  establishment  and  incorporated  with  it,  than  it 
ever  has  been  or  is  ever  likely  to  be  by  the  fluctuating  and  va 
riable  resource  of  frequent  enlistment  and  discharge.  The 
constant  changes  which  this  corps  undergoes  is  unfavorable  to 
the  growth  of  that  sentiment,  so  essential  to  the  service,  which 
makes  a  sailor  proud  of  his  flag.  It  is  still  more  unfavorable 
to  the  acquirement  of  that  peculiar  adaptation  of  habit  and 
training  to  the  duties  belongmg  to  the  employment  of  a  man- 
of-war,  which  all  officers  regard  as  the  test  and  indispensable 
element  of  an  efficient  seaman  in  the  navy.  In  a  large  navy 
like  that  of  England,  where  all  the  seamen  of  the  mercantile 
marine,  in  a  certain  sense,  belong  to  the  government,  the  dif 
ference  between  the  man-of-war's-man  and  the  seaman  of  civil 
employment  is  not  so  apparent  or  significant  as  it  is  in  our  ser 
vice,  in  which  the  seamen  bear  so  small  a  proportion  to  the 
whole  body  of  mariners  of  the  nation.  Every  English  sailor 
has  generally  more  or  less  service  in  the  navy,  and  passes  so 
frequently  from  the  private  to  the  public  employment  as  to  give 
him  to  a  great  degree  an  actual  incorporation  in  the  national 
marine  ;  the  one  service  is  so  connected  with  the  other  that 
the  seamen  of  bcth  assimilate  more  in  their  training  and  edu 
cation  than  the  correspondent  classes  in  this  country.  Our 
navy,  for  obvious  reasons  connected  with  these  considerations, 
is  much  more  dependant  upon  a  body  of  men  nurtured  by 
the  Government  and  attached  to  the  service  than  that  of  Eng 
land.  It  is,  therefore,  a  fundamental  purpose  in  the  plan 
which  I  submit  to  Congress  to  provide  for  the  ultimate  estab 
lishment  of  a  permanent  and  recognized  body  of  seamen,  con- 
23 


530  POLITICAL    PAPKC3. 

nected  with  the  navy  by  the  strongest  and  most  durable  bonds 
of  attachment  and  interest. 

While  providing  for  the  gradual  and  eventual  organization 
of  such  a  body,  my  attention  has  been  directed  also  to  the  pro 
curement  of  men  of  the  highest  character  in  personal  and  pro 
fessional  quality,  in  whose  good  deportment  and  faithful  ser 
vice  will  be  found  the  most  satisfactory  reasons  for  protecting 
by  legal  enactment  their  whole  class  against  the  form  of  pun 
ishment  which  has  of  late  so  much  excited  the  sensibility  of 
the  nation.  The  successful  accomplishment  of  such  an  object, 
I  trust,  will  commend  the  plan  to  the  regard  of  all  who  desire 
to  preserve  that  exemption,  and  who  have  hoped  to  find  it  in 
practice  not  incompatible  with  the  efficiency  of  service  on  ship 
board. 

The  general  outline  of  the  plan  may  be  exhibited  in  the 
following  regulations  : 

With  a  view  to  the  commencement  of  this  system,  and  to 
organize  a  body  of  efficient  seamen  of  the  most  meritorious 
class,  I  propose  that  every  commanding  officer  of  a  squadron, 
or  of  a  single  ship  when  not  with  a  squadron,  shall,  on  his  re 
turn  from  a  regular  cruise,  report  to  the  Navy  Department  in 
the  muster-roll  of  the  men  under  his  command,  a  statement  of 
the  good  or  bad  general  deportment  of  each  man,  with  a  spe 
cial  designation  of  those  whose  conduct  has  merited  that  de 
gree  of  approbation  which  shall  entitle  them  to  be  admitted 
into  the  navy. 

That  this  report  be  submitted  by  the  Department  to  the 
President,  who  shall  thereupon  issue  a  general  order  to  admit 
into  the  navy  the  seamen  who  have  been  distinguished  in  the 
report  for  good  conduct.  And  the  President  shall  transmit 
with  this  order  to  the  commanding  officer  of  the  squadron  or 
ship  a  certificate  to  each  seaman,  written  on  parchment  and 
stamped  with  the  signature  of  the  President  himself,  express 
ing  his  approbation  of  his  conduct  and  his  permission  to  admit 
the  subject  of  it  into  the  navy;  which  certificates  shall  be  de 
livered  by  the  commanding  officer  of  the  squadron  or  ship  to 


NAVAL    AFFAIRS.  531 

the  men  entitled  to  them  before  they  are  discharged  from  the 
ship.  This  delivery  to  be  made  in  the  presence  of  the  crews 
and  with  suitable  formality  to  attract  public  notice. 

That  each  seaman  to  whom  this  certificate  shall  be  awarded 
shall,  if  he  accept  it,  register  his  name  in  a  book  to  be  provided 
for  that  purpose  and  kept  on  board  of  the  ship,  by  which 
registry  he  shall  become  a  registered  seaman  of  the  navy  of 
the  United  States,  and  be  entitled  to  all  the  privileges  and  be 
bound  to  all  the  obligations  of  that  character.  This  registry 
book  shall  be  transmitted  to  the  Navy  Department,  where  it 
shall  be  preserved  and  the  entries  made  in  it  copied  into  a 
general  registry,  alphabetically  arranged,  and  kept  in  the 
Department. 

The  obligations  incurred  by  every  seaman  who  signs  the 
register  shall  be  those  of  faithful  service  and  due  performance 
of  all  seamanlike  duty  under  the  flag  of  the  United  States, 
good  moral  deportment,  and  prompt  obedience  to  all  orders 
that  may  be  issued  by  his  lawful  superiors  so  long  as  he  shall 
continue  to  be  a  member  of  the  navy. 

The  privileges  attached  to  this  registry  shall  be : 

i.  For  every  five  years  of  actual  duty  on  board  a  public 
vessel  an  increase  of  one  dollar  a  month  over  and  above  the 
established  rates  of  ordinary  pay ;  that  is  to  say,  for  the  first 
five  years  of  such  service  one  dollar  per  month ;  for  a  second 
term  of  five  years  of  such  service  an  additional  dollar  per 
month  ;  for  a  third  term  of  five  years  another  dollar ;  for  a 
fourth  term  of  five  years — making  a  total  of  twenty  years' 
service — another  dollar,  amounting  in  all  for  such  twenty  years' 
service  to  four  dollars  a  month  ;  after  which  no  further  increase 
to  be  made.  This  additional  monthly  pay,  so  earned  by  service, 
to  be  paid  to  each  man  so  long  as  he  may  continue  to  be  a 
registered  seaman  of  the  navy  ;  and,  after  twenty  years  of 
service,  to  be  paid  whether  he  continues  a  registered  seaman 
or  not. 

The  right  to  this  additional  pay  to  be  liable  to  forfeiture 
at  any  time  within  the  twenty  years'  actual  service  by  the  res- 


532  POLITICAL    PAPEIIS. 

ignation  of  any  seaman  on  the  registry,  or  by  his  being  struck 
off  the  list  of  registered  seamen ;  which  may  be  done  at  any 
time  ;  and  shall  only  be  done  by  the  order  of  the  Secretary  of 
the  Navy  or  by  the  sentence  of  a  naval  court-martial  upon 
charges  of  misconduct ;  in  either  of  which  events — resignation 
or  discharge  by  sentence  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Navy  or  of  a 
court-martial — he  shall  cease  to  belong  to  the  navy,  and  shall 
lose  all  the  privileges  of  such  a  character. 

2.  Every  registered  seaman  to  be  entitled  to  resign  his  post 
in  the  navy  at  any  time  after  three  years'  service  if  not  engaged 
on  a  cruise.     When  engaged  on  a  cruise  and  absent  from  the 
ports  of  the  United  States,  he  shall  not  resign  without  the  con 
sent  of  the  commanding  officer  of  the  ship.     A  record  of  all 
resignations  to  be  duly  kept  and  reported  to  the  Department. 

A  registered  seaman  of  more  than  twenty  years'  service 
continuing  in  the  navy  only  to  forfeit  his  additional  pay  when 
such  forfeiture  shall  be  adjudged  by  a  court-martial  as  a  pun 
ishment  for  grossly  immoral  or  insubordinate  conduct.  By 
such  sentence  also  for  such  offences  his  additional  pay  may  be 
suspended  by  a  court  for  such  time  as  they  may  adjudge. 

3.  No  registered  seaman  of  the  navy  to  be  subject  to  any 
corporal  or  other  punishment  of  a  degrading  character,  and  to 
such  only  as  may  be  ordered  by  a  court-martial  on  charges 
duly  preferred  and  trhd.     This  prohibition  not  to  prevent  the 
punishment  without  a  court-martial  of  such  minor  delinquen 
cies  in  conduct  and  discipline  as  may  be  corrected  by  withhold 
ing  the  usual  indulgences  of  the  service,  stopping  portions  of 
the  ration,  or  increasing  ordinary  duty. 

4.  Every  registered  seaman  to  be  entitled  after  any  term  of 
three  years'  service  to  a  furlough  of  such  reasonable  length  as 
may  enable  him  to  make  one  or  more  voyages  in  the  merchant 
marine,  not  extending,  without  special  permission,  to  more  than 
six  months  ;  such  furlough  to  be  granted  by  the  commanding 
officer  of  the  squadron,  or  the  commandant  of  the  navy  yard 
nearest  to  the  port  at  which  his  cruise  may  terminate,  and  only 
to  be  granted  in  any  case  with  an  expressed  reservation  and 


AFFAIRS.  533 

notice  that  the  seaman  to  which  it  is  given  shall  report  for  duty 
in  the  navy  when  any  public  emergency  shall  render  it  neces 
sary  so  to  order  him,  the  order  for  his  return  to  duty  to  be  is 
sued  by  the  Navy  Department  or  by  such  officer  as  may  be  au 
thorized  by  the  Department  to  do  so.  A  failure  to  report  in 
accordance  with  this  provision  to  render  him  liable  to  be  struck 
off  the  registry  by  the  Secretary  of  the  Navy.  Every  register 
ed  seaman  reporting  for  duty  within  three  months  of  his  last 
cruise,  and  being  thereupon  ordered  to  duty,  to  be  entitled  to 
pay  from  the  date  of  termination  of  his  last  cruise. 

All  furloughs  to  be  regularly  reported  and  noted  at  the 
Navy  Department 

5.  Every  registered  seaman  to  be  entitled  to  wear  on  his 
dress  some  appropriate  badge  by  which  he  may  be  distinguish 
ed  and  known  in  the  navy,  which  badge  will  be  designated  and 
provided  by  the  Navy  Department. 

6.  The  petty  officers  of  each  ship  to  be  selected,  as  far  as 
convenient,  from  the  class  of  registered  seamen,  and  the  ap 
pointment  always  to  be  regarded  as  dependent  upon  the  merit 
and  good  character  of  the  person  selected,  to  be  held  on  good 
behavior,  during  the  term  of  a  cruise. 

7.  A  record  to  be  kept,  under  the  direction  of  every  com 
manding  officer  of  a  squadron  or  ship,  of  the  actual  amount  of 
sea  service  performed  by  each  registered  seaman  while  under 
his  command.     This  record  to  be  returned  to  the  Department 
at  the  end  of  every  cruise,  and  to  be  transferred  to  the  general 
registry  of  seamen.    Upon  the  evidence  of  this  general  registry 
the  additional  pay  to  be  granted. 

8.  Every  seaman  to  be  admonished  to  give  his  true  name, 
age,  and  place  of  birth  upon  signing  the  registry,  and  to  be  re 
quired  to  engage  not  to  ship  in  merchant  or  other  vessels  while 
on  furlough  by  any  other  name.     His  being  convicted  of  viola 
ting  this  engagement  to  render  him  liable  to  be  struck  from  the 
list  of  registered  seamen  upon  the  order  of  the  Secretary  of 
the  Navy. 

9.  In  every  case  of  dismissal  from  the  service  as  a  register- 


534  POLITICAL    PAPERS. 

ed  seaman,  the  party  so  dismissed  to  receive  whatever  moneys 
may  be  due  to  him,  unless  the  same  shall  have  been  forfeited 
by  the  sentence  of  a  court-martial  imposed  as  a  punishment  for 
an  offence  committed  by  him.  A  seaman  dismissed  from  the 
registry  not  to  be  entitled  to  be  restored  but  upon  the  permis 
sion  of  the  head  of  the  Navy  Department,  granted  in  consider 
ation  of  the  meritorious  character  of  the  applicant. 

10.  Seamen,  ordinary  seamen,  and  landsmen  in  the  service, 
not  belonging  to  the  registry,  to  be  subject  to  such  discipline, 
duty,  and  penalties  as  Congress  may  provide  in  a  code  of  reg 
ulations  adapted  to  their  government,  under  such  restrictions 
or  modifications  as  the  Department  may  think  proper  to  make. 

n.  A  printed  book  or  circular  to  be  made  by  the  Depart 
ment,  containing  all  the  regulations  and  conditions  relating  to 
the  establishment  of  registered  seamen,  giving  a  full  descrip 
tion  of  the  obligations  to  be  contracted  by  them,  and  of  the  priv 
ileges  to  which  they  may  be  entitled.  Copies  of  this  book  or 
circulars  to  be  furnished  to  every  squadron  or  single  vessel  in 
commission,  of  which  copies  one  shall  be  given  to  every  sea 
man,  in  order  that  he  may  be  fully  informed  ^f  the  nature  of 
the  engagements  to  be  incurred  by  him  on  entering  the  service 
of  the  United  States.  These  regulations  to  be  read  and  ex 
plained  to  the  several  crews,  and,  as  far  as  may  be  necessary, 
to  every  seaman  before  he  signs  the  registry. 

12.  The  Department  to  be  authorized  to  make,  alter,  and 
modify  all  rules  and  regulations,  so  far  as  it  may  be  found  ex 
pedient  for  the  due  establishment  and  support  of  this  purpose 
of  creating  a  corps  of  registered  seamen,  in  accordance  with  the 
general  objects  intended  to  be  promoted  in  the  above  plan,  and 
for  the  supplying  of  any  defect  which  experience  may  show  to 
exist  in  it. 

The  term  seaman,  as  used  throughout  this  plan,  is  to  be  un 
derstood  to  embrace  every  class  of  mariners  on  board  a  public 
vessel,  whether  denominated  seamen,  ordinary  seamen,  or 
landsmen. 

13.  A  limited  number  of  boys  to  be  received  into  the  navy 


.NAVAL    AFFAIBS.  535 

upon  obligations  contracted  according  to  law,  to  serve  until 
they  arrive  at  the  age  of  twenty-one  years.  Their  number,  the 
quota  to  be  allowed  to  each  vessel,  and  all  needful  and  proper 
rules  for  their  government  and  duties,  to  be  regulated  by  the 
orders  of  the  Navy  Department 

This  system  of  providing  for  a  more  effective  marine  I  re 
spectfully  submit  to  your  consideration.  There  already  exists 
power  in  the  Executive  to  adopt  nearly  the  whole  of  its  details. 
It  may  be  proper,  however,  to  submit  it  to  the  approval  of  Con 
gress,  with  a  view  to  obtain  for  it  a  legislative  recognition,  and 
especially  to  procure  such  enactments  as  may  be  necessary  to 
give  the  sanction  of  law  to  the  establishment  of  the  registry, 
which  constitutes  the  ground-work  of  the  plan. 

Increase  of  the  Navy. 

In  the  activity  and  diversity  of  enterprise  which  the  busy 
spirit  of  this  time  has  exacted  from  the  navy,  it  has  now  be 
come  manifest  that  the  increase  of  the  naval  establishment  of 
the  country  is  not  only  recommended  by  the  most  urgent  pub 
lic  considerations,  but  is  also  forced  upon  the  attention  of  Con 
gress  as  an  absolute  necessity.  The  honor  as  well  as  the  suc 
cessful  adventure  of  the  nation,  and  I  might  even  say  the  in 
dispensable  obligation  of  national  defence  and  the  constantly 
recurring  need  for  the  exhibition  of  the  national  power,  all 
combine  to  present  this  question  to  Congress  as  one  of  the  first 
magnitude.  During  the  past  year  this  Department  has  been 
impelled,  by  a  due  regard  for  the  great  public  interests  com 
mitted  to  its  charge,  to  put  in  requisition  nearly  the  whole  dis 
posable  force  of  the  navy.  The  details  of  this  report  will  show 
that  constant  and  various  employment  has  been  demanded  of 
officers,  ships,  and  crews.  I  trust  that  Congress  will  see  in 
these  requisitions  how  much  the  demands  of  necessary  service 
engross  the  means  provided  to  accomplish  it,  and  will  deduce 
from  this  fact  an  argument  .in  favor  of  enlarging  the  naval  re 
sources  for  still  larger  naval  operations. 

While  other  great  maritime  powers  are  strengthening  and 


536  POLITICAL    PAPERS. 

extending  their  capabilities  for  aggression  and  defence,  and  are 
bestowing  a  sedulous  labor  upon  the  creation  of  steam  navies 
of  singular  efficiency,  they  have  imposed  upon  us  a  new  obliga 
tion,  if  not  to  track  their  progress  with  equal  steps  in  an  effort 
to  bring  ourselves  abreast  with  them  in  their  advance,  at  least 
to  maintain  that  position  of  relative  strength  which  it  has  been 
our  policy  heretofore  to  assume. 

The  actual  exigencies  of  our  own  service,  so  conspicuously 
multiplied  by  the  rapid  extension  of  our  domain  and  the  settle 
ment  of  new  marts  of  trade  and  the  establishment  of  new  lines 
of  commerce  on  the  Pacific,  cannot  but  present  to  every  citizen 
of  the  United  States  an  altogether  irresistible  argument  to  per 
suade  the  nation  to  a  much  larger  provision  of  ships  and  men 
than  we  have  heretofore  kept  in  commission.  The  Pacific, 
during  the  next  ten  years,  is  likely  to  become  the  theatre  of  the 
most  interesting  events  of  our  time.  A  nation  is  growing  up 
upon  its  shores  which  will  both  attract  and  supply  an  amount 
of  commercial  enterprise  in  the  rapid  growth  and  activity  of 
which  the  world  has  yet  had  no  parallel.  The  discovery  of 
America  did  not  give  such  an  impulse  to  this  spirit  as  we  now 
witness  in  the  energy  and  occupations  of  these  recent  settle 
ments. 

At  this  moment  we  are  without  a  public  steamship  in  that 
ocean.  Our  various  commerce  scattered  along  the  whole  coast 
from  Oregon  to  Chili,  and  our  citizens  who  are  found  in  every 
port  throughout  that  extended  line,  are  left  to  the  protection  of 
but  two  frigates  and  two  sloops-of-war,  composing  a  squadron 
whose  utmost  activity  can  but  half  perform  the  duty  assigned 
to  it.  Our  new  relations  with  Asia  and  the  intermediate  isl 
ands,  which  are  constantly  multiplying  the  resources  of  trade, 
and  with  them  the  hazards  of  collision,  and  the  consequent  in 
crease  of  numbers  drawn  from  the  population  of  every  country 
to  the  commencement  of  an  era  of  great  political  significance, 
which  will  henceforth  exact  from  the  Government  more  than 
its  accustomed  vigilance  in  noting  the  progress  of  events,  and 
more  than  its  usual  energy  in  the  duty  of  guarding  our  citizens 


XAVAL    AFFAIRS.  537 

who  may  be  connected  with  them.  It  is,  therefore,  more  ne 
cessary  than  ever  that  we  should  have  a  respectable  force  al 
ways  accessible  to  our  countrymen  in  this  field  of  action,  and 
capable  of  giving  them  protection  against  the  perils  of  war  and 
popular  outbreak  and  revolutionary  commotion,  which  in  future, 
even  more  than  in  the  past,  may  be  expected  to  characterize 
many  of  the  States  and  communities  to  which  their  business 
invites  them.  A  steamer  of  a  large  class,  adapted  to  the  gen 
eral  duties  of  a  cruise,  and  a  smaller  one  to  be  kept  at  hand  at 
San  Francisco,  for  use  in  California  and  Oregon,  I  regard  as 
almost  indispensable  additions  to  the  squadron  assigned  to  that 
service. 

Looking  to  the  Atlantic,  we  find  motives  equally  strong  for 
the  increase  of  our  naval  armaments,  and  particularly  for  the 
enlargement  of  the  number  of  our  steamships. 

While  I  am  fully  aware  that  the  power  of  the  United  States 
happily  consists  more  in  their  ability  to  provide  for  the  contin 
gencies  of  invasion  than  in  the  actual  exhibition  of  an  equipped 
force,  and  that  we  may  dispense  with  much  that  is  deemed  req 
uisite  in  the  relations  of  European  powers,  still  we  cannot  fail 
to  recognize  the  fact  that  the  respect  due  to  the  interests  of 
our  people  requires  the  habitual  and  familiar  presence  of  our 
flag  in  every  region  of  commerce,  sustained  by  such  an  amount 
of  force,  and  of  such  a  quality,  as  may  give  some  significant 
token  of  the  resources  we  command  at  home.  A  salutary  con 
viction  on  this  point  is,  to  a  great  extent,  inspired  by  the  ex 
cellence  of  our  armaments  when  brought  into  comparison  with 
those  of  other  nations.  We  cannot  afford  to  lose  or  impair  our 
reputation  for  producing  the  best  ships  and  the  best-disciplined 
crews  that  navigate  the  ocean,  however  we  may  afford  to  ex 
hibit  them  in  smaller  numbers. 

The  principal  maritime  nations  are  now  diligently  intent 
upon  the  effort  to  build  up  powerful  steam  navies.  Most  of 
them  are  already  far  ahead  of  us  in  this  species  of  force  ;  and 
it  is  very  obvious,  from  the  urgency  with  which  the  new  marine 
of  Europe  is  pressed  to  assume  this  character,  that  there  is  a 


538  POLITICAL    TAPERS. 

deep  and  earnest  conviction  of  an  impending  necessity  in  which 
the  improved  force  will  be  mainly  relied  on  as  the  efficient  ele 
ment  of  war.  Are  we  so  far  removed  from  the  occasion  or  the 
scene  of  apprehended  conflict  as  to  warrant  any  indifference 
on  our  part  to  the  possible  issues  of  a  collision  ?  Are  our  af 
fairs  so  little  exposed  abroad,  or  so  concentrated  at  home,  as 
to  exempt  us  from  all  necessity  to  consider  the  effects  which 
may  follow  the  recent  changes  in  the  naval  organization  of  Eu 
rope? 

These  considerations,  and  others  which  they  suggest,  in 
duce  me  to  ask  the  attention  of  Congress  to  the  recommenda 
tions  of  the  Bureau  of  Construction  accompanying  this  report, 
and  to  invite  them,  with  the  most  earnest  solicitude,  to  provide 
for  the  building  of  three  first-class  screw-propeller  frigates,  and 
the  same  number  of  propeller  sloops-of-war.  To  these  might 
be  added  with  advantage  a  few  smaller  steamers  adapted  to 
quick  despatch  and  coast  navigation. 

Our  navy  yards  are  abundantly  supplied  with  large  quanti 
ties  of  the  best  timber,  in  the  best  condition,  which  could  not 
be  better  appropriated  than  to  this  object.  There  are  two  frig 
ates,  the  Santee  and  the  Sabine,  which  have  been  housed  on 
the  stocks  in  Portsmouth  and  New  York  for  the  last  ten  years. 
These  might  be  launched  and  fitted  for  service,  and  their  places 
might  be  occupied  as  well  as  the  sheds  now  vacant  in  other 
yards  by  the  new  steamships  proposed  to  be  built. 

In  connection  with  this  subject  I  would  call  the  attention 
of  Congress  to  the  necessity  of  authorizing  the  establishment 
of  one  or  more  factories  for  the  construction  of  all  the  machin 
ery  necessary  to  the  complete  equipment  of  the  largest  class 
of  steamers.  The  great  importance  of  such  establishments  to 
the  Government  is  felt  by  this  Department  in  the  daily  convic 
tion  that  only  by  the  command  of  such  a  resource  may  the  navy 
be  promptly  and  surely  supplied  with  the  best  machinery  for 
the  public  vessels.  The  inspection  and  control  of  the  work 
while  it  is  in  progress,  the  assurance  of  the  best  material,  and 
the  punctual  compliance  with  the  demands  of  the  service,  are 


NAVAL    AFFAIRS.  539 


advantages  that  may  only  be  efficiently  secured  by  having  the 
workshop  under  the  command  of  the  Government.  The  expe 
rience  of  the  past  will  also  fully  demonstrate  that  this  mode  of 
supplying  the  machinery  of  our  public  vessels  must  be,  in  its 
general  result,  more  economical  than  any  other,  and  will  cer 
tainly  secure  much  the  most  reliable  kind  of  work.  The  plans 
would  be  more  uniform,  failure  of  machinery  less  frequent,  and 
the  improvement  of  the  models  of  construction  more  certain. 

The  mail  contract  law  of  1847  contains  a  provision  which 
authorizes  the  Government  to  appropriate  any  of  the  vessels 
built  under  it  to  the  naval  service.  I  would  reommend  that 
one  of  these,  of  the  first  class,  be  selected  and  equipped  with 
the  proper  armament.  I  make  this  suggestion  from  a  persua 
sion  that  it  is  a  matter  of  importance  to  the  Government 
practically  to  determine,  by  experiment,  a  question  upon  which 
much  doubt  is  entertained,  and  which  it  is  necessary  to  solve, 
whether  these  steamers  are  really  adequate  to  the  demands  of 
the  naval  service,  and  may  be  usefully  converted  into  ships  of 
war.  The  determination  of  this  question  may  settle  a  point 
of  great  moment  touching  the  reliance  to  be  placed  upon 
these  ships  in  any  sudden  emergency — a  point  much  more 
safely  to  be  settled  in  a  time  of  peace  than  in  moments  of  ex 
citement  and  pressure,  when  no  other  resource  may  be  at 
hand  to  meet  the  consequences  of  a  failure. 

It  is  further  necessary  to  make  provision  for  an  increase 
of  seamen.  The  present  limit  of  seven  thousand  five  hundred 
men  is  insufficient  even  for  the  necessities  of  the  service  in  its 
present  existing  condition.  If  the  full  complement  of  men  ap 
propriated  by  the  regulations  of  the  navy  were  now  on  board 
of  the  vessels  in  commission,  more  than  the  whole  number 
allowed  would  be  required.  I  think  it  therefore  indispensable 
to  the  proper  efficiency  of  the  service  that  an  addition  of  not 
less  than  fifteen  hundred  be  authorized  to  be  made  to  the  es 
tablishment,  and  that  a  correspondent  addition  be  made  to  the 
yearly  estimates  of  naval  pay.  It  is  equally  necessary  that 
provision  be  made  for  an  increase  in  wages,  either  in  monthly 


540  POLITICAL    RAPERS. 

pay  or  in  the  shape  of  a  bounty,  to  be  given  after  enlistment. 
The  amount  of  this  increase  should  be  regulated  by  some  ref 
erence  to  the  wages  given  in  the  merchant  service,  which  are. 
now  so  much  higher  than  the  naval  pay  as  to  increase  the  dif 
ficulty  to  which  I  have  heretofore  alluded,  in  the  procurement 
of  the  best  men. 

A  reference  to  the  report  of  the  Bureau  of  Medicine  will 
inform  Congress  of  the  condition  of  the  medical  service  of  the 
navy  and  the  pressing  necessity  that  exists  for  an  increase  of 
officers  in  that  department.  Great  relief  would  be  afforded 
by  an  authority  to  appoint  a  number,  not  exceeding  twenty  as 
sistant  snrgeons,  and  to  make  a  correspondent  promotion  of 
an  equal  number,  or  of  so  many  as  by  proper  length  of  ser 
vice  may  be  qualified  for  it,  into  the  upper  grades. 

I  beg  leave  also  to  call  the  attention  of  Congress  to  the 
report  of  the  commanding  officer  of  the  marine  corps,  which 
will  show  how  inadequate  is  the  present  limitation  of  that 
corps  to  the  ordinary  demands  of  the  service.  The  opinion 
of  General  Henderson  upon  this  point,  of  itself  entitled  to 
great  weight,  is  reinforced  by  that  of  many  of  the  most  ex 
perienced  officers  of  the  navy,  as  will  be  seen  in  the  corre 
spondence  accompanying  the  report,  to  which  I  invite  a  careful 
attention.  In  conformity  with  these  opinions,  I  respectfully 
recommend  to  Congress  the  passage  of  a  law  to  authorize  the 
enlargement  of  the  corps  by  the  addition  of  eighty  sergeants, 
eighty  corporals,  thirty  drummers  and  fifers,  and  one  thousand 
privates,  and  that  the  four  captains,  four  first  and  four  second 
lieutenants,  conditionally  allowed  to  the  service  by  the  proviso 
to  the  naval  appropriation  bill  of  March  3,  1849,  be  retained 
permanently  in  the  corps. 

The  same  necessity  which  has  led  to  this  representation 
of  the  embarrassments  of  the  service  in  those  branches  to 
which  I  have  just  alluded,  compels  me  to  ask  for  some  addi 
tion  to  the  corps  of  pursers.  This  important  division  of  the 
naval  organization  is  found  to  stand  in  need  of  more  aid  than 
the  present  allowance  affords.  The  corps  scarcely  furnishes 


NAVAL    AFFAIRS.  541 

that  proper  rotation  in  service  which  the  peculiar  duties  of  the 
purser  demands.  It  is  necessary  after  every  cruise  to  allow 
this  officer  a  sufficient  time  on  shore  to  settle  his  accounts 
— a  period  which  will  not  always  place  him  at  the  disposal  of 
the  Department  for  an  early  return  to  sea,  if  it  were  even  prop 
er  to  compel  these  officers  to  a  repetition  of  duty  without 
some  time  for  such  refreshment  on  shore  as  every  officer  re 
quires. 

If  Congress  should  think  proper,  in  consideration  of  this 
condition  of  the  corps,  to  sanction  an  increase  of  its  members, 
I  would  earnestly  recommend  the  establishment  of  a  grade  of 
assistant  pursers,  to  which  only  the  new  appointments  should 
be  made  ;  that  these  assistants  should  undergo  an  examina 
tion  as  to  their  physical  and  mental  abilities  previous  to  their 
appointment ;  that  the  age  of  admission  should  be  regulated 
by  the  Navy  Department ;  and  that  no  applicant  should  be 
nominated  for  the  corps  without  a  satisfactory  conformity  to 
the  preliminary  condition.  Promotion  and  pay  should  be  reg 
ulated  by  law,  and  no  promotion  should  be  made  but  upon 
full  evidence  of  the  capability  of  the  individual  to  comply 
with  all  the  demands  of  the  service  ;  this  evidence  to  be  ob 
tained  by  such  course  of  examination  as  the  Department  may 
prescribe.  With  such  conditions,  I  would  recommend  that 
Congress  should  at  present  authorize  the  appointment  of  twen 
ty  assistant  pursers  to  be  attached  to  the  corps. 

As  a  subject  of  great  interest  to  the  efficiency  of  the  navy, 
I  beg  leave  to  renew  the  recommendations  heretofore  made  by 
this  Department  for  the  gradual  reduction  of  the  number 
of  officers  who  are  incapable  of  useful  service,  by  the 
adoption  of  some  suitable  plan  for  retiring  all  of  this  char 
acter  from  the  sphere  of  ordinary  duty.  A  well-organized 
naval  system  requires  that  the  officers  charged  with  its  admin 
istration  should,  as  far  as  possible  be  maintained  in  a  condi 
tion  for  whatever  employment  may  be  demanded  of  them,  and 
should  always  exhibit  the  utmost  alacrity  in  their  obedience  to 
orders.  There  is  no  better  test  of  the  spirit  of  the  corps,  nor 


542  POLITICAL    PA  PEES. 

no  more  commendable  sign  of  a  good  officer,  than  his  readi 
ness  to  accept  every  call  of  his  profession.  This  high  charac 
ter  can  only  be  maintained  in  the  navy  by  exempting  from  com 
mand  all  who  obstruct  the  path  of  duty.  Those  whose  disa 
bility  has  been  the  result  of  long  and  faithful  toil  in  the  nation 
al  service,  should  be  provided  with  an  honorable  retreat,  in 
which  old  age  and  infirmity  may  find  repose.  They  who,  with 
out  service  to  plead  for  their  incapacity,  only  stand  in  the  way 
of  more  willing  and  more  capable  men,  should  be  consigned 
to  a  retirement  on  smaller  pay,  by  the  operation  of  a  law  which 
should  render  their  retirement  compulsory. 

It  may  be  worth  the  consideration  of  Congress  to  make 
permanent  provision  for  these  two  classes  of  officers.  This 
might  be  advantageously  accomplished  perhaps  by  a  law 
which  should  confer  upon  the  first  class  a  rate  of  retired  pay, 
graduated  from  half-pay  up  to  that  allowed  to  leave  of  absence, 
according  to  the  amount  of  sea  service  they  may  have  per 
formed,  and  adding  to  this  an  honorary  promotion  of  one  de 
gree  in  rank,  and  which  should  dispose  of  the  second  class  by 
retiring  them  on  half  of  leave  of  absence  pay. 

The  details  necessary  to  such  a  system  may  be  easily  reg 
ulated  whenever  Congress  shall  find  occasion  to  take  the  sub 
ject  into  their  deliberations. 

I  repeat  also  my  concurrence  in  the  views  presented  by 
my  predecessor  in  his  report  of  November,  1850,  on  the  pro 
priety  of  "  recognizing  by  law  the  office  of  Commodore,  and 
the  creation  of  at  least  two  officers  of  the  rank  of  Rear  Ad 
miral."  I  can  add  nothing  to  the  satisfactory  arguments  with 
which  that  recommendation  is  enforced,  and  therefore  content 
myself  with  a  reference  to  the  report,  and  an  earnest  invoca 
tion  to  Congress  to  give  it  a  favorable  consideration. 


THE    BORDER    STATES.  543 


THE  BOEDER   STATES: 

THFJR  POWER  AND  DUTY  IN  THE  PRESENT    DISORDERED    CONDI 
TION  OF    THE    COUNTRY. 

r  I  ^  HE  country  is  now,  or,  from  all  the  tidings  that  reach  us, 
JL  must  soon  he  compelled  to  accept  the  fact  that  South 
Carolina  has  seceded  from  the  Union. 

Whatever  may  be  the  right  of  secession,  it  is  about  to  be 
come  a  practical  fact.  South  Carolina  has  announced  her 
purpose,  as  far  as  it  is  in  her  power,  to  dissolve  the  Union. 
Other  States  belonging  to  that  series  which  has  lately  assumed 
the  designation  of  the  Cotton  States — as  expressive  of  a  pecu 
liar  affinity  in  interest  and  policy — are  likely  to  follow  her  ex 
ample.  Alabama,  which  is,  in  some  sense,  the  offspring  and 
pupil  of  Carolina,  has  shown  herself  already  too  eager  to  pre 
cipitate  herself  into  revolution  to  leave  us  any  hope  that  she 
will  hesitate  to  array  herself  on  the  side  of  her  teacher.  Per 
haps  we  may  still  find  some  encouragement  to  a  better  augury, 
in  the  good  sense  and  prudence  of  Georgia  and  the  other 
States  which  have  not  been  wholly  possessed  and  fevered  by 
that  extraordinary  contagion  of  frenzy  which  Carolina  has 
spread  through  the  lowlands  of  the  South.  But  I  confess  my 
fears.  The  signs  are  against  it.  The  chances  are — for  this 
event  is  not  under  the  control  of  the  sober  judgment  and  wise 
estimate  by  which  all  matters  of  State  should  be  directed — 
the  chances  are  that  passion  will  rule  the  hour,  and  that  the 
revolution  \vill  move  onward,  swayed  by  the  same  rash  im 
pulses  as  those  in  which  it  originated. 

We  of  the  Border  States,  therefore,  cannot  too  soon  take 
counsel  together,  touching  our  own  interest  and  duty  in  the 


544  POLITICAL    PATERS. 

new  condition  of  affairs  which  is  about  to  be  forced  upon  us. 
The  question  that  now  concerns  us  is — What  position  are  we 
to  assume  in  the  beginning  of  the  strife  ;  where  are  we  to 
place  ourselves  at  the  end  of  it  ? 

Is  it  not  very  obvious  that  Virginia,  Kentucky,  Tennessee, 
Missouri,  North  Carolina,  and  Maryland  cannot,  with  any  re 
spect  for  their  own  dignity,  with  any  regard  for  their  welfare,  or 
with  any  security  for  their  own  peace,  suffer  themselves  to  be 
dragged  into  that  track  of  revolution  and  civil  war,  of  wild  exper 
iment  and  visionary  project  into  which  Carolina  is  endeavoring 
to  force  them  ?  These  States  are  quite  able  to  determine  for 
themselves  what  griefs  they  suffer  and  what  redress  they  require  ; 
they  want  no  officious  counsellor  nor  patronizing  friend  to  tell 
them  what  it  becomes  them  to  do,  either  for  the  maintenance  of 
their  own  honor,  or  the  promotion  of  their  own  advantage ;  they 
can  hear  with  quiet  scorn  the  taunt  that  they  "  have  placed  the 
Union  above  the  rights  and  institutions  of  the  South  " — and  hold 
at  what  it  deserves  the  offensive  rebuke  "  that  no  Southern  State 
intent  on  vindicating  her  rights  and  preserving  her  institutions 
would  go  into  conference  with  them."* 

Every  substantial  hope  of  a  successful  issue  out  of  the  af 
flictions  of  the  country,  produced  equally  by  the  wickedness 
of  Northern  fanaticism,  and  the  intemperate  zeal  of  secession, 
depends  upon  the  calm  and  earnest  wisdom  of  the  Border 
States.  That  they  will  be  true  to  the  duties  of  the  crisis,  no 
one  who  has  studied  their  character  can  for  a  moment  doubt. 

However  the  lowland  States  may  now  slight  their  counsels 
and  disparage  their  patriotism,  it  is  a  most  weighty  and  signifi 
cant  truth,  for  the  consideration  of  the  leaders  of  the  projected 
revolution,  that  the  Border  States  are  at  this  time  the  most 
authentic  representatives  of  the  conservative  power  of  the 
Union.  Their  various  and  equal  relations  to  the  North,  the 
South  and  the  West,  their  social  organization  for  the  support 

*  See  the  Charleston  Mercury  of  November  19,  where  this  lan 
guage  is  held  to  Virginia  and  the  other  Border  States,  in  the  editorial 
headed  "  Southern  Conference — too  late." 


THE    BORDER   STATES.  545 

of  every  interest  connected  with  good  government  and  perma 
nent  peace,  their  internal  strength,  and,  above  all,  their  health 
ful  tone  of  opinion  toward  the  preservation  of  constitutional 
right  and  resistance  against  wrong,  point  them  out  as  the  safest 
and  best  arbiters  in  the  present  difficulties  of  the  country. 
Whatever  there  is  of  real  vigor  in  the  slaveholding  communi 
ties,  exists  in  them  and  is  derived  in  greatest  degree,  by  oth 
ers,  from  their  sympathy  and  alliance.  Without  them,  we  may 
affirm,  that  no  confederacy  of  Slave  States,  at  all  worthy  of 
respect  and  consideration  as  an  independent  power,  can  pos 
sibly  be  formed. 

The  attempt,  whenever  made,  will  speedily  prove  itself  to 
be  a  most  unhappy  failure. 

The  Border  States  have  a  better  right  to  claim  a  hearing, 
just  now,  than  any  other  member  of  the  Union.  Indeed,  until 
they  have  spoken,  it  would  almost  seem  to  savor  of  an  unbe 
coming  officiousness  on  the  part  of  any  other  State  to  put 
itself  in  the  van  to  raise  an  outcry  of  wrong  or  to  dictate  the 
measure  of  remedy. 

While  these  States  have  always  manifested  a  just  and  be 
coming  sensibility  to  their  rights,  connected  with  the  employ 
ment  of  slave  labor,  and  have  shared  in  the  common  indigna 
tion  of  the  South  against  the  malignant  hostility  of  certain 
sections  of  the  Northern  people  ;  while  they  have  been  the 
chief  and  almost  only  sufferers  from  the  inroads  of  organized 
abolitionists,  who  have  stealthily  abstracted  their  slaves  in 
numbers  whose  value  may  be  reckoned  at  little  less  than  a 
million  of  dollars  a  year ;  while,  indeed,  it  may  be  said,  that 
these  States  are  the  only  portions  of  the  slaveholding  region 
which  have  any  direct,  immediate  or  definite  interest,  worthy 
of  special  consideration,  in  the  vexed  questions  touching  the 
present  or  the  future  of  slavery  in  the  United  States — that  is 
to  say,  in  the  question  of  emigration  to  the  territories,  the 
rendition  of  fugitives,  and  the  organization  of  new  States — 
they  have,  nevertheless,  shown  themselves  in  all  contingencies, 
the  confident  and  considerate  assertors  of  their  rights  in  the 


546  POLITICAL    PAPERS. 

mode  ordained  by  the  Constitution,  and  at  all  times  the  deter 
mined  friends  of  the  Union.  They  have  never  yet  felt  an 
aggression  which  they  did  not  believe  more  effectively  to  be 
repelled  by  the  due  exercise  of  the  power  of  the  government, 
than  by  retreat  before  the  aggressor  and  resort  to  a  covert 
revolution  that  seeks  to  legalize  its  action  by  taking  the  name 
of  secession. 

They  certainly  cannot  be  expected  now,  with  the  painful 
conviction  which  passing  events  are  creating  in  their  minds — 
that  the  Union  itself  is  the  chief  grievance  which  stirs  the 
hostility  of  those  who  are  most  active  in  raising  a  banner  of 
revolt,  and  that  the  assaults  upon  the  property  of  slaveholders, 
of  which  they,  the  Border  States,  have  so  much  cause  to  com 
plain,  are  but  the  pretext  to  cover  a  concealed  design  of  por 
tentous  mischief — they  cannot  be  expected  now,  with  such  a 
conviction,  to  renounce  the  wisdom  of  their  accustomed  trust 
in  the  law,  and  allow  themselves  to  be  persuaded  or  beguiled 
into  a  desertion  at  once  of  the  Constitution  which  they  have 
always  respected,  or  of  the  Union  which  they  have  always 
revered.  Their  course  is  too  plainly  marked  out  to  them  by 
the  incidents  of  the  day  to  admit  of  any  such  fatal  aberration 
as  that.  They  are  not  blind  to  the  fact  that  the  present  crisis 
has  been  forced  upon  the  country  with  a  haste  that  allowed  no 
halt,  chiefly  because  its  contrivers  feared  the  sound  of  that 
voice  from  the  Border  States,  which  they  knew  would  speak 
peace  to  the  troubled  waves  in  strife,  and  would  reach  the 
heart  of  hosts  of  loyal  citizens  in  the  very  bosom  of  the  com 
motion, — citizens,  alas  !  now  bereft  of  their  loyalty  by  the  force 
of  the  tempest  of  revolution  that  has  swept  over  them. 

If  thus  Carolina  and  her  comrades  are  lost — all  is  not  lost. 
There  is  space  for  arbitrament  still  left  which  may  at  least 
secure  an  opportunity  for  meditation,  and  I  would  hope  an 
eventual  settlement  that  may,  perhaps,  include  even  those  who 
are  at  present  the  most  resolute  in  their  recusancy.  Carolina 
now  repeats  defiantly  that  all  chance  of  her  return  is  gone 
forever.  I  would  fain  believe  that  affairs  mav  be  conducted 


THE    BORDER    STATES.  547 

into  such  a  channel  as  to  awaken  in  her  a  better  view  of  her 
own  future. 

It  is  very  important  that  the  country  should  consider  the 
true  character  of  the  danger  that  threatens  it.  The  public 
mind  is  sadly  at  fault  upon  this  point.  There  has  been  a  sin 
gular  occurrence  of  accident  and  design  to  lead  even  sensible 
and  observant  men  off  from  the  perception  of  the  real  causes 
of  this  disturbance ;  and  a  not  less  singular  exhibition  of  prac 
ticed  skill  in  the  address  with  which  the  popular  masses  in 
the  region  of  the  commotion  have  been  enlisted  in  an  enter 
prise  of  the  scope  and  consequences  of  which  they  had  neither 
the  leisure  to  examine  nor  the  temper  to  comprehend. 

The  public  for  the  most  part  believe  that  the  impending  rev 
olution  grows  out  of  the  organization  of  the  Republican  party, 
and  that  the  recent  election  presented  the  culminating  point  at 
which  that  organization  could  no  longer  be  endured  with  safe 
ty  to  the  Southern  States. 

Unfortunate  as  that  election  is,  not  only  in  its  results,  but  in 
all  the  stages  of  its  progress  from  the  day  of  the  Chicago  Con 
vention  down  to  that  of  its  consummation — unfortunate  for  the 
tranquillity  of  the  country,  and  for  the  predominance  it  has  given 
to  certain  men  and  certain  political  sects — it  is  not  less  unfor 
tunate  for  the  opportunity  it  has  afforded  to  the  accomplish 
ment  of  designs  long  nourished,  which  have  been  held  in  sus 
pense  only  to  await  a  juncture  favorable  to  their  success. 

The  graver  and  more  thoughtful  portions  of  the  community 
have  recognized  with  no  little  pain,  the  steady  growth  in  some 
sections  of  the  South,  for  many  years  past,  of  a  disposition  in 
the  leaders  of  Southern  opinion  to  undervalue  both  the  strength 
and  the  beneficence  of  the  Union.  It  belongs  to  the  school 
of  doctrine  of  which  South  Carolina  is  the  head,  to  imbue  the 
people  with  the  idea  that  the  State  Sovereignty  has  the  first 
claim  to  the  allegiance  of  the  citizen,  and  that  no  more  is  due 
to  the  National  Sovereignty  than  may  be  found  not  incompat 
ible  with  this  superior  duty ;  that  to  support  the  State,  right 
or  wrong,  in  whatever  demand  it  may  make  in  conflict  with  the 


548  POLITICAL  PAPKR*. 

Federal  authority,  is  the  natural  and  most  proper  exhibition 
of  a  becoming  State  pride. 

This  school  has  also  been  the  source  of  certain  theories 
touching  the  structure  and  aims  of  our  goverment,  which,  al 
though  founded,  as  we  conceive,  on  mistaken  views  both  of  the 
facts  of  its  history  and  of  the  necessary  conditions  upon  which 
alone  any  government  of  a  population  so  extensive  as  ours  is 
practicable,  could  not  but  lead  in  time  to  angry  dissension  and 
inveterate  sectional  prejudice. 

Conspicuous  among  these  theories  are  two  which  have 
taken  a  deep  hold  upon  the  Southern  mind.  To  their  influence 
we  may  trace  no  small  amount  of  the  discontent  which  has 
weakened  the  attachment  of  some  of  the  Southern  States  to 
the  Union  ;  and  which  has  also  led  to  the  large  acceptance  they 
have  given  to  the  efficacy  and  lawfulness  of  that  extreme  meas 
ure  which  Carolina  now  proposes  as  the  proper  remedy  for  the 
evils  which  threaten  her  in  common  with  all  other  slavehold- 
ing  States. 

The  first  of  these  theories  asserts  that  the  Federal  Govern 
ment  was  constructed  on  the  basis  of  an  equilibrium  of  power 
between  the  Free  and  Slave  States,  which  equilibrium  was  de 
signed  to  be  forever  preserved  in  all  the  vicissitudes  of  the 
future.  The  failure  to  preserve  it  is  consequently  regarded  as 
a  violation  of  a  fundamental  compromise. 

The  second  is  that  which  affirms  all  import  duties  to  be  an 
exclusive  tax  upon  the  Planting  States,  by  virtue  of  which  they 
are  burdened  with  the  charge  of  the  entire  support  of  Govern 
ment. 

I  might  add  to  these,  that  other  theory  from  the  same 
school,  and  equally  questionable,  which  conceives  the  ever- 
present  and  effective  remedy  for  all  real  or  fancied  griefs  to 
exist  in  the  doctrine  of  a  lawful  right  of  secession. 

Without  stopping  to  debate  the  soundness  of  these  several 
tenets,  I  refer  to  them  as  presenting  the  real  germs  of  the  dis 
content  which  has  been  smouldering  at  the  heart  of  Carolina 
for  years,  and  as  suggesting  the  true  explanation  of  that  phe- 


THE    BORDER    STATES.  54:9 

nomenon  which  puzzles  the  whole  nation  at  this  day,  the  ac 
tivity,  namely,  and  apparent  supererogatory  zeal  with  which 
Carolina  has  first,  and  before  all  her  sister  States  of  the  South, 
flung  herself  into  the  arena  to  vindicate  them  by  revolution 
and  destruction  of  the  Union. 

These  teachings  have  been  long  silently  undermining  her 
attachment  to  the  Federal  Government,  and  have  at  last  wholly 
obliterated  in  her  that  sentiment  of  reverence  for  the  Union 
which  our  forefathers  inculcated,  with  a  religious  earnestness, 
as  the  foundation  of  American  Nationality. 

It  is  a  fact  of  common  observation  that  the  present  genera 
tion  of  public  men  in  Carolina  have  been  educated  in  omin 
ous  familarity  with  the  thought  of  disunion.  It  has  been  the 
toy  of  their  childhood,  the  weapon  of  their  age  of  active  life. 
It  has  gathered  edge  and  strength  in  a  long  and  petulant  quar 
rel  with  the  National  Government.  It  has,  at  last,  taken  visible 
shape  in  the  instant,  defiant  act  of  secession. 

Carolina  frankly  avows  the  Union  to  be  an  obstruction  to 
her  prosperity.  That  is  not  the  sentiment  alone  of  to-day.  It 
has,  for  years  past,  been  her  earnest  conviction  that  the  Fed 
eral  Government,  administered  on  the  principles  most  accord 
ant  with  the  wishes  of  a  large  number  of  the  States,  is  not 
compatible  with  her  welfare.  She,  therefore,  thinks  she  has  a 
right  to  retire  from  the  compact  and  assume  the  position  of  an 
independent  nation. 

She,  moreover,  thinks  that  it  is  altogether  consistent  with 
her  duty  to  her  sister  States  with  whom  she  has  had  no  ground 
of  quarrel,  to  propagate  her  own  discontent  among  such  of 
them  as  she  may  deem  useful  to  her  project,  and  by  persua 
sion,  solicitation,  and  convention,  to  lure  them  out  of  the 
Union  into  alliance  with  herself. 

The  short  compend  of  these  claims  is  expressed  in  the 
postulate — a  right,  at  her  pleasure,  to  dissolve  the  Union. 

Every  one  has  heard  and  read  how  pertinaciously  she  has 
argued  this  right  in  every  forum  open  to  her  service. 

Persuading  herself  that  she  has  this  right,  to  be  used  when- 


550  POLITIC  AI    PArEKS. 

ever  she  thinks  proper,  she  deduces  from  it,  quite  logically, 
the  right  to  meditate  over  every  problem  of  passable  contin 
gencies  which  might,  in  the  evolution  of*  events,  be  turned 
to  her  advantage.  As  for  instance,  whether  she  would  not 
thrive  better  if  certain  prohibitions  of  the  Constitution  were 
removed  ?  Would  it  be  to  her  benefit  to  make  Charleston  a 
free  port  ? — to  negotiate  a  commercial  treaty  with  England  ? — 
with  France  ? — to  make  a  new  Confederacy  within  the  territo 
ry  of  the  Union  ? — to  open  and  re-establish  the  African  slave- 
trade?— a  hundred  such  questions  which  she  may  deem  fit  to 
consider  and  determine  while  she  remains  a  member  of  the 
Confederacy — and  the  objects  of  which,  if  she  cannot  accomplish 
them  in  the  Union,  she  thinks  it  unreasonable  to  be  denied 
the  privilege  of  accomplishing  by  secession  from  the  Union. 

I  would  not  willingly  misrepresent  Carolina — much  less 
speak  in  derogation  of  her  really  high  and  admirable  qualities  of 
character.  There  is  no  community  of  the  same  size,  I  believe,  in 
the  world  that  has  produced  a  larger  share  of  distinguished 
men.  There  is  no  society  in  the  United  States  more  worthy 
of  esteem  for  its  refinement,  its  just  and  honorable  sentiment, 
and  its  genial  virtues. 

The  men  of  Carolina  are  distinguished  by  the  best  qualities 
of  attractive  manhood.  They  are  brave,  intelligent  and  frank. 
They  speak  what  they  think,  and  they  mean  what  they  say. 
They  are  the  last  people  in  this  Union  we  should  desire  to  part 
with — notwithstanding  their  strange  insulation  of  opinion,  their 
exclusive  philosophies,  and,  what  they  must  pardon  us  for  think 
ing,  their  political  sophisms ! 

In  these  sundry  meditations  of  theirs,  they  have  long  since 
struck  upon  one  or  more  of  the  conclusions  which  I  have  hint 
ed  above — the  opinion,  namely,  that  they  would  do  better  in  a 
Southern  Confederacy  than  in  the  Union  made  by  their  fore 
fathers.  And  having  come  to  that  conclusion,  they  have 
wrought  themselves  to  the  sober — or  rather,  let  me  say,  the  ve 
hement  conclusion  that  they  are  the  most  oppressed  people  of 
Christendom. 


THE    BORDER    STATES.  551 

In  1832,  their  oppression  existed  in  the  unhappy  fact  that 
the  Government  persisted  in  continuing  a  policy  originally 
supported,  if  not  demanded,  by  Carolina  herself,  which  was 
founded  upon  the  most  approved  economical  science  of  that 
day,  and  the  practice  of  all  enlightened  nations — the  encour 
agement  of  the  domestic  industry  of  the  country.  As  a  rem 
edy  for  this  grief  they  proposed  secession  and  dissolution  of 
the  Union — but  not  being  unanimous  in  that  conclusion,  they 
resorted  to  the  milder  process  of  nullification. 

How  many  times  since  that,  they  have  determined  to  dis 
solve  the  Union,  it  would  be  tedious  to  enumerate.  But  in 
1851,  their  grievances  grew  so  intolerable,  through  the  admis 
sion  of  California  into  the  Union,  with  a  constitution  made 
according  to  its  own  view  of  what  was  best  for  it,  that  all  the 
altars  were  lighted  up  once  more  with  an  unusual  conflagra 
tion  of  the  never-dying  flames  of  liberty  and  independence. 

What  was  the  extent  of  suffering  then,  and  what  the  peculiar 
gravamen  of  that  day,  we  may  learn  from  their  own  oracles. 

In  order  that  I  may  speak  from  the  book,  I  will  quote 
some  passages — almost  too  long,  but  still  so  full  of  matter 
that  I  am  unwilling  to  shorten  them,  from  the  chosen  and  au 
thentic  expounder  of  Southern  opinion — The  Southern  Quar 
terly  Review. 

In  an  article  of  the  October  number  of  1851,  entitled, 
"South  Carolina,  her  present  attitude  and  future  action," — 
from  the  sum  of  much  grave  advice  touching  revolution,  and 
hinting,  among  other  things,  at  the  passage  of  bills  of  attain 
der  and  the  use  of  the  axe,  I  extract  the  following  exposition 
of  wrongs  and  suggestions  of  remedy  : — 

"  But  the  people  of  South  Carolina,"  says  the  reviewer, 
"  have  not  yet  entirely  forgotten  the  angry  feelings  growing 
out  of  the  war  of  the  Revolution.  Well,  then,  let  them  read 
over  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  and  compare  the  wrongs 
recited  there,  with  those  we  now  endure.  What  was  the  actual 
grievance  then  ?  What  is  it  now  ?  Then  they  '  augured  mis- 
government  at  a  distance.'  Now,  the  evil  is  upon  them,  and 
tenfold  greater  evil  than  the  most  far-seeing  politician  of  that  day 


552  POLITICAL    PAPERS. 

anticipated  from  British  tyranny  One,  and  but  one  of  the  lux 
uries  of  the  rich  was  taxed  not  more  than  five  per  cent.  Now, 
every  necessary  of  life  which  she  does  not  produce  at  home, 
is  taxed  at  an  average  rate  of  not  less  than  thirty  per  cent.  Then 
Old  England  claimed  the  right  to  exact  from  her  a  portion  of 
the  revenue  necessary  for  the  support  of  the  British  Empire, 
while  the  amount  expended  for  the  benefit  of  South  Carolina 
very  far  exceeded  all  that  she  was  called  on  to  contribute. 
Now,  New  England  requires  her  together  with  a  few  of  her 
uncomplaining  and  acquiescent  sisters  to  furnish  the  whole  rev 
enue  of  the  Union,  no  part  of  which  comes  back  to  them,  ex 
cept  in  the  shape  of  bribes  to  such  as  are  willing  to  sell  them 
selves  into  the  service  of  their  enemies,  for  Texas  scrip  and 
the  emoluments  of  office." 

*  *  *  #  *  #  * 

"  She  (Massachusetts)  was  wronged.  She  was  outlaw 
ed  and  her  port  of  Boston  was  shut.  We  took  up  arms  in 
her  quarrel.  It  was  hardly  our  own.  But  we  made  it  our 
own.  It  was  for  her  that  our  Moultrie,  Marion,  Pickens  and 
Sumpter  fought  in  defence  of  our  firesides,  against  an  enemy 
whom  our  zeal  in  her  behalf  brought  upon  us.  From  Ninety- 
Six  to  Charleston,  our  country  is  full  of  monuments  of  our  ef 
forts  in  her  cause.  It  was  for  her  the  gallant  Hayne  died  a 
felon's  death  ;  and  the  requital  of  that  sacrifice  is,  to  threaten 
the  like  doom  to  his  descendants  should  they  be  as  bold  in 
defence  of  our  own. rights  as  he  was  then  in  defence  of  hers. 
We  separated  ourselves  from  Old  England  because  the  port 
of  Boston  was  shut  up.  Should  we  now  separate  ourselves 
from  New  England,  we  hear  from  Boston  itself  that  the  port 
of  Charleston  is  to  be  shut  up." 

After  this,  we  have  a  glimpse  of  the  remedy  proposed  for 
these  oppressions. 

"  What  is  there  at  this  day  antagonistic  between  the  inter 
ests  of  Great  Britain  and  those  of  South  Carolina  ?  Is  not 
each  the  consumer  of  all  the  other's  productions,  reciprocally  y 
Is  not  their  relation  like  that  of  the  sexes,  each  necessary  to 
the  other  ?  And  shall  South  Carolina,  like  the  Circassian 
slave,  continue  shut  up  in  the  harem  of  a  brutal  and  sordid 
tyrant,  when  a  generous  lover  is  waiting  to  make  her  his  hon 
ored  wife,  and  to  establish  her  in  wealth  and  comfort  and  free 
dom  and  all  the  dignity  of  a  Christian  matron  ? " 


THE   BORDER    STATES.  553 

"With  all  her  professions  of  friendship  Massachusetts 
hates  England  with  an  inextinguishable,  because  an  interested 
hatred.  They  are  rivals  in  commerce.  They  are  rivals  in 
manufactures.  An  especial  object  of  rivalry  is  the  commerce  of 
the  Southern  States,  and  hence  Massachusetts  does  all  she  can 
to  keep  alive  their  old  animosities  and  to  prevent  the  growth  of 
an)-  sympathy  between  us  and  England.  Hence  she  excites  the 
impertinent  clamors  of  English  abolitionists.  What  for?  Can 
they  interfere  with  our  institutions  ?  No.  They  can  but  make 
us  angry"  *  * 

It  is  a  mistake,  as  we  may  gather  from  what  follows,  to 
suppose  that  England  is  really  opposed  to  slavery.  Her  pro 
fessed  aversion  to  it  is  a  mere  stratagem  to  allay  her  own  dis 
contents.  Her  object  is  to  keep  her  own  work-people  quiet,  by 
inducing  them  to  believe  that  the  world  contains  more  wretched 
beings  than  themselves. 

"  They  (her  West  India  possessions)  have  become  a  bur 
den  to  her.  They  continually  harass  her  with  well-founded 
complaints  and  demand  some  indemnity  in  the  way  of  protec 
tion  to  their  sugar  in  the  English  market.  But  this  is  oppres 
sive  to  her  people  at  home,  and  especially  to  the  manufacturing 
operative,  to  whom  coarse  sugars  are  a  necessary  of  life.  To 
reconcile  him  to  this,  nothi?ig  so  ready  as  an  appeal  to  his  sympa 
thies  with  his  brother  slave  on  this  other  side  of  the  Atlantic ;  and 
he,  poor  wretch,  shut  up  in  the  work-house,  the  factory  or  the  mine, 
readily  believes  that  the  condition  of  the  negro  slave  must  be  '  a 
lower  depth  in  that  lowest  deep  '  with  the  horrors  of  which  he  is 
familiar" 

###*### 

"  Let  but  South  Carolina,  even  alone,  set  up  for  herself,  and 
establish  such  commercial  relations  with  Great  Britain  as 
woul'd  be  best  for  both  parties,  how  long  would  it  be  before 
Great  Britain  would  see  her  interest  in  permitting  and  encourag 
ing  and  aiding  Jamaica  and  her  other  West  India  Islands,  to 
form  one  State,  and  Demerara  another,  and  to  enter  into  confed 
eracy  with  South  Carolina  ?  " 

And  as  a  matter  of  course,  a  new  slave-trade  from  America 
would  be  established  by  the  aid  of  England  in  this  hopeful 
project. 

"  Getting  slaves  from  the  continent,  they  would  need  no 
more  protection,  and  all  clamor  about  'slave-grown  sugar' 

24 


554  POLITICAL    PAPE11S. 

would  cease  forever.  Entering  the  ports  of  England  under  a 
moderate  revenue  tariff,  the  sugar  would  find  its  way  to  the 
operative  at  half  its  present  price,  and  the  poor  woman,  wasted 
and  worn  by  her  twelve  hours  of  unceasing  toil,  would  not  be 
obliged  to  deny  herself  the  cheering  influence  of  her  indispen 
sable  cup  of  tea — her  only  luxury  and  not  her  least  necessary." 

It  is  with  such  food  as  this  that  the  mind  of  warm-hearted, 
impulsive,  credulous  Carolina  is  fed  to  nurture  this  project  of 
disunion ! 

Extravagant  as  this  declamation  may  appear  to  a  calm 
reader,  capable  of  estimating,  at  their  true  value,  the  happy 
certainties  that  belong  to  the  present  and  the  future  of  a  State 
in  the  American  Union,  and  the  dreadful  uncertainties  that 
impend  over  separation,  even  in  its  most  hopeful  reckoning,  it 
nevertheless  expresses  the  views  and  expectations  of  that  por 
tion,  at  least,  of  the  community  in  which  it  is  uttered,  who  have 
been  allowed  "to  instruct  the  Southern  mind  and  fire  the 
Southern  heart"  for  the  momentous  struggle  which  is  now 
inaugurated  in  South  Carolina.  In  that  aspect  it  is  worthy 
of  special  notice  at  this  time. 

It  demonstrates  what  I  have  already  intimated,  that  the 
secession  movement  is  not  the  suddenly  inspired  project  of  the 
present  day  ;  that  it  does  not  grow  out  of  the  events  of  the 
recent  canvass  and  election,  nor  even  primarily  out  of  that 
agitation  of  slavery,  which  constitutes  the  flagrant  cause  of  dis 
turbance  in  the  Border  States. 

If  we  analyze  this  paper  we  shall  see  that  the  aggressions 
of  the  Northern  States  upon  the  peaceful  employment  of 
Southern  labor,  is  scarcely  referred  to  at  all ;  that  the  real  and 
predominant  grievance  complained  of  is  found  in  the  old  ques 
tion  of  taxation.  The  support  of  the  government  by  imports, 
regulated  to  the  revenue  standard,  is  presented  as  an  abuse 
tenfold  more  oppressive  than  all  the  tyranny  that  led  to  the 
revolution  of  seventy-six.  The  State  of  South  Carolina  and 
her  few  uncomplaining  sisters  are  represented  as  groaning 
under  the  intolerable  burden  of  paying  the  whole  revenue  of  the 
Federal  Government  and  getting  nothing  in  return.  This  is  a 


THE    BOEDER    STATES.  555 

repetition  of  the  grief  of  1832,  when  the  country  was  mystified 
with  that  most  inscrutable  of  all  revelations,  "the  forty-bale 
theory," — and  which  so  far  prevailed  in  the  philosophy  of  the 
National  Councils  as  finally  to  secure  the  triumph  of  what  is 
claimed  to  be  the  free-trade  adjustment  of  1846, — which  adjust 
ment,  it  seems  now,  is  no  more  satisfactory  than  the  protect 
ive  system  it  displaced. 

It  is  also  worthy  of  note,  that  the  rabid  abolitionism  of  En 
gland,  of  which  so  much  has  been  said  of  late  in  the  way  of  de 
nunciation,  and  which,  in  fact,  is  quite  as  mischievous  to  South 
ern  peace  as  the  fanaticism  it  encourages  in  New  England,  is 
regarded  not  only  as  harmless,  but  even  as  not  standing  in  the 
way  of  a  most  cordial  alliance  with  Great  Britain.  The  re 
viewer  actually  apologizes  for  this  little  indiscretion  in  the  ex 
pected  ally,  and  treats  it  with  a  temper  of  good  sense  which 
might  be  commenclably  adopted  in  regard  to  the  same  trans 
gression  at  home — "  can  they  interfere  with  our  institutions  ? 
No.  They  can  but  make  us  angry.1' 

We  have  a  further  exposition  of  the  policy  of  disunion,  in  the 
imagination  of  a  Southern  Confederacy  composed  of  Jamaica, 
and  other  British  West  India  Islands,  and  Demerara — or,  I 
suppose,  the  reviewer  meant  British  Guiana  on  the  South  Amer 
ican  continent — to  which  may  now  be  added  as  a  more  recent 
development  of  the  grandeur  of  the  contemplated  republic,  the 
conception  of  similar  accretions  embracing  Cuba,  San  Domingo, 
Mexico,  and  perhaps  Central  America.  This  Confederacy,  if 
we  mistake  not  the  significance  of  many  ill-suppressed  hints 
from  indiscreet  friends,  is  to  be  rendered  still  more  magnifi 
cent  and  bountiful  of  blessings,  still  more  attractive  to  the  con 
templation  of  mankind  by  the  aid  of  a  productive  commerce  in 
African  slaves,  which  seems  to  be  not  the  least  winning  feature 
in  the  project. 

These  are  the  fervid  dreams  of  the  contrivers  of  disunion. 
For  such  fantasies  as  these,  our -great  Republic,  the  matured 
product  of  so  much  thought  and  suffering,  is  to  be  rent  asun 
der,  just  at  the  era  when  we  fondly  imagined  it  to  have  risen 


556  POLITICAL    PAPERS. 

to  that  height  in  the  estimation  of  mankind  which  gave  it  an 
assured  position  among  the  proudest  empires  of  history.  For 
such  impracticable  conceits  as  these,  it  is  to  be  resolved  into 
discordant  fragments  whose  perpetual  jars  may  illustrate  the 
saddest  moral  of  blighted  hopes  the  world  has  ever  known  ! 

We  might  bear  this  melancholy  lot  with  submissive  pa 
tience,  as  the  chastisement  of  offended  Heaven,  if  we  could 
believe  there  was  any  cause  to  give  it  the  semblance  of  an 
unavoidable  affliction  ;  if,  indeed,  it  did  not  spring  from  the 
merest  wantonness  of  a  temper  engendered  by  too  much  pros 
perity — or  ingratitude  to  God  for  blessings  too  profusely  be 
stowed  to  be  valued. 

There  is  something  in  the  time  and  in  the  pretext  chosen 
for  this  great  work  of  mischief  that  peculiarly  provoke  re 
mark.  The  pretext  is  the  general  agitation  of  the  Southern 
mind  by  the  Northern  triumph  over  slavery.  What  quarrel 
there  is  that  grows  out  of  this,  is,  as  we  have  affirmed,  the  just 
and  proper  quarrel  of  the  Border  States.  That  quarrel  does 
not  necessarily,  and  most  probably  would  not,  lead  to  a  breach 
of  the  Union.  Firm  remonstrance  and  wise  counsel,  aided  by 
that  strong  attachment  to  the  government,  which,  both  North 
and  South,  lives  in  the  heart  of  millions  of  conservative  men 
may  bring  a  truce, — which,  indeed,  is  already  begun, — au 
spicious  to  reflection  and  the  settlement  of  all  these  differences. 
It  is  no  difficult  matter  in  this  breathing  space,  when  consid 
erate  citizens  are  brought  face  to  face  with  honest  purpose  of 
peace,  to  frame  an  adjustment  in  which  future  repose  and  suf 
ficient  pledge  against  the  renewal  of  strife  may  be  obtained. 

It  is  just  at  such  a  time  as  this — in  the  interval  when  rea 
son,  judgment,  and  fraternal  affection  are  beginning  to  infuse 
a  benignant  influence  over  the  disturbed  mind  of  the  country 
— that  the  master-spirits  of  the  new  Confederacy  rush  to  the 
verge  of  the  gulf  and  drive  their  maddened  partisans  to  the 
dreadful  leap  that  makes  recall  impossible.  They  pursue 
their  desperate  course  without  a  moment's  pause,  neither  look 
ing  back,  nor  taking  breath ;  deaf  to  all  entreaty  of  friends, 


THE   BORDER    STATES.  557 

and  blind  to  all  sights  but  the  visions  that  rise  in  the  distant 
prospect.  There  they  behold  their  Arcadia,  with  its  phantoms 
of  untold  wealth,  its  free  ports,  its  untaxed  commerce,  its  il 
limitable  cotton  fields,  its  flattering  alliances,  its  swarms  of  re 
inforcement  from  the  shores  of  Africa.  To  reach  this  prom 
ised  land,  the  only  condition  of  the  enterprise  is  to  press  for 
ward  with  fiery  haste  and  outrun  the  speed  of  the  peace 
makers. 

In  1851,  Carolina  pursued  her  scheme  of  secession  as  reso 
lutely  as  she  does  at  this  day,  and  only  failed  through  the  pru 
dence  of  those  who  refused  to  accompany  her.  Her  purpose 
was  as  ripe  then,  her  hopes  as  high,  as  now.  Yet,  at  that 
epoch  there  was  no  fear  of  a  Republican  President.  There 
was  then  no  question  of  intervention  or  non-intervention,  no 
debate  of  equal  rights  in  the  territories,  no  Kansas,  no  John 
Brown.  In  the  absence  of  all  these,  she  had  nothing  but  Cali 
fornia  and  the  Compromise  to  disturb  her  repose.  Yet  her 
sufferings,  as  she  declared,  were  too  intolerable  to  be  borne. 
Let  her  speak  for  herself.  It  was  the  Union  she  could  not  en 
dure.  "  Welcome  as  summer  showers  to  the  sun-parched 
earth  " — (was  the  wail  of  her  Quarterly  of  that  time) — "  wel 
come  as  heaven's  free  air  to  the  heart-sick  tenant  of  a  dungeon, 
would  come  to  us  the  voice  of  freedom,  the  word,  the  deed 
which  would  tend  to  burst  our  bonds,  and  in  earnest  faith  con 
tribute  to  the  disruption  of  this  proud  fabric  (once  beautiful, 
but  now  rotten  to  the  core)  which,  under  the  name  of  Union, 
threatens  to  crush  us  beneath  its  unholy  power." 

We  cannot  believe  that  this  complicated  tissue  of  extrava 
gant  projects,  of  fancied  ills,  of  illusory  imaginations,  has  taken 
any  absolute  hold  upon  the  judgment  of  the  really  sound  intel 
lect  of  Carolina.  The  many  wise  and  patriotic  men,  who  have 
adorned  the  councils  of  the  nation  as  well  as  of  the  State  ;  the 
many  whom  we  know  in  private  life,  distinguished  for  good 
sense,  clear  perception  of  duty  and  the  highest  order  of  ability, 
forbid  the  belief  that,  when  this  extraordinary  tempest  of  pas 
sion  shall  subside,  they  will  not  be  at  hand  to  lead  the  State 


558  POLITICAL    PAPERS. 

to  the  path  into  which  her  true  renown  and  her  best  interests 
invite  her.  We  are  aware  of  the  bewildering  force  of  popular 
excitement  lashed  into  fury  by  the  eloquence  and  the  arts  of 
ambitious  leaders  ;  how  irresistible  it  seizes  upon  impressible 
and  ardent  natures,  how  strangely  it,  sometimes,  overmasters 
the  discretion  of  the  wise.  But  we  also  know  that,  in  the  very 
highest  rage  of  its  sweep,  it  is  never  without  an  earnest  and 
silent  dissent  in  the  bosoms  of  grave  and  interested  spectators 
who  dare  not,  or,  in  the  hopelessness  of  a  hearing,  will  not  even 
whisper  a  remonstrance  against  the  heady  current  of  the  mul 
titude.  They  abide  their  time.  We  believe  that  at  this  mo 
ment  there  is  in  Carolina  many  a  sad  and  watchful  citizen 
anxiously  awaiting  the  day  when  the  collapse  of  this  overstrain 
ed  ardor  shall  present  an  occasion  to  speak  a  word  for  the 
Union  and  for  the  stricken  fortunes  of  the  State,  without  fear 
of  that  stern  and  angry  derision  which  now  compels  him  to 
hold  his  peace. 

But  I  leave  this  topic  to  recur  to  the  question, — What  is 
the  proper  duty  of  the  Border  States,  looking  to  the  contingen 
cies  of  this  unhappy  strife? 

Obviously  they  cannot,  in  the  present  circumstances,  cast 
their  lot  with  Carolina.  They  cannot  adopt  either  her  passion 
or  her  policy.  They  can  go  into  no  confederation  of  the  low 
land  States,  organized  on  the  principles  and  motives  which 
they  have  so  much  reason  to  fear  now  direct  and  stimulate  the 
ambition  of  Carolina.  Then  let  them  say  so  at  once. 

Let  them  say  to  her  and  to  those  who  may  unite  their  for 
tunes  with  hers,  that,  deeply  deploring  a  separation  which  they 
would  make  every  just  or  generous  sacrifice  to  avert, — a  sep 
aration  that  is  forced  upon  them  by  a  profound  conviction  that 
it  is  the  only  expedient  left  open  to  them  to  guard  against  still 
greater  evils — they  must  submit  to  it  as  the  inevitable  destiny 
of  their  position. 

The  Border  States  have  their  own  welfare  to  protect,  their 
own  injuries  to  redress.  They  believe  that  both  of  these  may 
be  accomplished  within  the  Union.  They  have  no  issue  with 


THE    BOEDER    STATES.  559 

any  section  of  the  Union,  but  that  which  springs  from  the  hos 
tility  engendered  in  the  minds,  and  manifested  in  the  public  ac 
tion,  of  certain  portions  of  the  Free  States.  They  have  no 
hopes  or  fears  which  may  not  be  encouraged  or  quieted  by  the 
lawful  and  orderly  administration  of  the  constitutional  powers 
of  the  Federal  Government.  They  regard  that  government  as 
the  wisest  scheme  that  can  be  devised  for  the  rule  of  this  na 
tion.  They  can  never  abandon  it  until  experience  shall  con 
vince  them  that  it  is  no  longer  capable  to  resist  its  perversion 
by  faction,  or  to  protect  the  rights  of  every  State  and  citizen. 

That  experience  they  have  not  yet  had. 

They  acknowledge  that  in  the  resolution  of  the  Union  into 
fragments,  which  may  be  the  possible  result  of  the  present  dis 
turbances,  a  contingency  may  be  presented  to  them  in  which 
they  will  be  compelled  to  choose  their  own  lot. 

Their  first  and  greatest  desire  is  to  avert  that  contingency 
and  to  restore  peace  and  universal  concord  among  the  whole 
sisterhood  of  States. 

Supposing  these  to  be  the  sentiments  of  the  Border  States, 
which,  from  every  authentic  indication,  I  cannot  doubt,  I  ven 
ture  to  suggest  for  their  consideration, — 

The  expediency,  as  a  preliminary  measure,  of  holding,  at 
an  early  day,  an  informal  Conference  to  be  conducted  by  one 
or  more  distinguished  citizens  from  each  of  the  Border  States, 
and  from  such  of  the  other  Southern  States  as  maybe  opposed 
to  secession  in  the  present  state  of  affairs — these  to  be  selected 
by  the  Executive  of  each  State — for  the  purpose  of  determin 
ing  on  a  course  of  joint  action  to  be  recommended  to  the  adop 
tion  of  the  whole  number. 

To  sach  a  conference  I  would  submit  the  following  propo 
sitions  : — ' 

i.  The  propriety  of  making  an  earnest  appeal  to  the  seced 
ing  States  to  retrace  their  steps  and  await  the  result  of  the 
measures  proposed  for  the  establishment  of  general  harmony ; 
with  a  declaration  that  if  this  appeal  be  unsuccessful,  they, 
the  Border  States,  will  be  compelled  to  decline  entering  into 


5GO  POLITICAL    PAPERS. 

a  Southern  Confederacy  as  now  proposed  by  South  Carolina 
and  her  allies  in  secession. 

2.  That  if  the  secession  of  South  Carolina  be  followed  by 
that  of  Alabama  or  any  other  State,  and  a  serious  breach  of 
the  Union  be  thus  established,  it  will  then  be  incumbent  on 
the  Border  States  and  the  other  Southern  States  concurring 
with  them,  to  take  measures  for  their  own  security,  by  demand 
ing  from  the  Free  States  a  revisal  of  all  topics  of  complaint  be 
tween  them  and  the  Slave  States,  and  the  adoption  of  such 
stipulations  on  both  sides  as  shall  be  satisfactory  to  each  for 
the  determination  and  protection  of  Southern  rights,  and  for 
the  restoration  of  harmony. 

These  stipulations  would,  of  course,  become  the  subject  of 
a  negotiation  with  the  Free  States ;  a  negotiation  which  should 
be  conducted  in  a  frank  and  conciliatory  spirit,  through  such 
agencies  as  the  parties  may  arrange. 

I  think  it  would  be  just  to  both  parties,  and  would  be  like 
ly  to  meet  the  general  approval  of  the  country,  to  direct  these 
stipulations  to  the  following  points  : — 

The  re-establishment  of  the  Missouri  line  and  its  extension 
to  the  Pacific,  as  an  easy,  practicable  mode  of  settling  the  ter 
ritorial  question  on  a  basis  with  which  the  people  are  familiar. 

The  adjustment  of  the  question  of  the  rendition  of  fugitive 
slaves : 

By  such  modifications  of  the  provisions  of  the  act  of  Con 
gress  on  that  subject,  as  shall  remove  every  reasonable  objec 
tion  to  it,  compatible  with  its  efficient  adaptation  to  its  pur 
pose  ;  and  by  an  agreement  on  the  part  of  the  Free  States,  to 
execute  it  in  good  faith,  and  to  repeal  all  laws  heretofore 
passed  with  a  view  to  its  obstruction : 

This,  coupled  with  an  engagement,  in  case  any  State  should 
find  itself  unable,  by  reason  of  the  repugnance  of  the  people 
to  the  execution  of  the  law,  to  deliver  up  the  fugitive — then,  to 
be  allowed  and  required,  by  way  of  alternative,  to  make  a  just 
indemnity  to  the  owner,  under  such  regulations  as  may  be  de 
vised. 


THE    BORDER    STATES.  561 

The  settlement  of  the  question  in  regard  to  the  admission 
of  New  States  on  the  foundation  at  present  adopted,  of  leaving 
each  territory  to  form  a  State  Constitution  in  accordance  with 
its  own  wishes. 

Finally,  a  pledge  to  be  given  by  the  Free  States  to  exert 
their  influence,  as  far  as  possible,  to  discourage  discussions  of 
slavery  in  a  tone  offensive  to  the  interests  of  the  slaveholding 
States  •  and  to  endeavor  to  procure  legislative  enactments 
against  preparations  for  assault  on  the  peace  of  the  States, 
either  by  individuals  or  organized  bodies. 

If  there  be  any  of  the  provisions  proposed  in  these  stipula 
tions  which  may  require  an  amendment  of  -the  Constitution — 
an  agreement  should  be  made  to  propose  and  support  it. 

3.  If  these  stipulations  can  be  obtained — then  the  Border 
States  and  concurring  States  of  the  South,  which  have  not  se 
ceded,  shall  retain  their  present  position  in  the  Union. 

But  in  the  adverse  event  of  these  stipulations,  or  satisfacto 
ry  equivalents  for  them,  being  refused,  the  Border  States  and 
their  allies  of  the  South  who  may  be  disposed  to  act  with  them, 
will  be. forced  to  consider  the  Union  impracticable,  and  to  or 
ganize  a  separate  Confederacy  of  the  Border  States,  with  the 
association  of  such  of  the  Southern  and  Free  States  as  may  be 
willing  to  accede  to  the  proposed  conditions. 

4.  When  this  programme  of  action,  or  such  substitute  for  it 
as  the  Conference  may  devise,  shall  be  adopted,  it  should  be 
submitted,  through  the  respective  Executives  of  the  States  rep 
resented  in  the  Conference,  to  the  people  of  each,  to  be  acted 
upon  in  a  General  Convention  of  those  States,  called  by  the 
direction  and  appointment  of  their  several  Legislatures. 

5.  That  pending  the  whole  course  of  this  proceeding,  the 
Border  States  and  those  concurring  with  them  shall  engage  to 
prevent,  by  all  means  in  their  power,  any  attempt  on  the  part 
of  the  Federal  Government  or  of  any  State  or  States  to  coerce 
the  seceding  States  by  armed  force  into  submission. 

It  may  be  a  proper  subject  for  such  a  Conference,  as  I  have 
proposed,  to  consider  whether  it  would  not  be  useful,  in  any 


502  POLITICAL    PAPERS. 

event — even  in  that  of  the  single  secession  of  South  Carolina, 
before  any  other  States  shall  have  followed  her — to  offer  the 
Border  States  as  mediators  in  the  present  unhappy  differences, 
and  to  endeavor  to  procure,  for  the  benefit  of  all,  the  stipula 
tions  I  have  described  above,  or  some  other  pacific  arrange 
ment  of  the  same  character  and  object. 

If  the  Border  States  can  be  brought  into  combination  in 
the  manner  pointed  out  by  those  propositions,  it  is  easy  to  per 
ceive  that  they  must  immediately  become  the  masters  of  the 
position  from  which  the  whole  national  controversy  is  most 
likely  io  be  controlled.  They  will  not  only  hold  the  general 
peace  in  their  hands,  by  their  authority  to  persuade  an  absti 
nence  from  all  attempts  at  coercion  ;  but  they  will  also  be  re 
garded  and  respected  on  all  sides,  as  the  natural  and  appro 
priate  medium  through  which  the  settlement  of  all  difference 
is  eventually  to  be  obtained. 

By  taking  the  ground,  at  the  earliest  moment,  that  tney  can 
not  unite  in  the  scheme  of  the  Southern  Confederacy,  and  that 
if  separation  should,  at  last,  after  all  efforts  to  avert  it,  be  im 
posed  upon  them  by  an  inexorable  necessity  from  which  there 
is  no  escape,  they  will  be  compelled  to  construct  a  Confedera 
cy  of  their  own,  in  which  they  may  be  able  to  associate  with 
themselves,  perhaps,  the  whole  body  of  the  Middle  and  West 
ern  States.  If  they,  the  Border  States,  shall  firmly  and  dis 
passionately  take  this  ground,  such  a  determination  cannot  but 
suggest  to  the  .seceding  States  the  gravest  motive  to  pause  in 
their  meditated  career,  and  to  await  an  opportunity  for  further 
conference  and  debate.  It  will  then  be  for  these  States  to  in 
quire  with  more  deliberation  than  they  have  yet  given  to  the 
subject,  what  will  be  the  strength  and  capacity  for  self-support 
of  a  Confederacy  unsustained  by  the  power  and  resource  of 
such  communities  as  those  which  decline  the  alliance.  When 
that  question  comes  to  be  seriously  discussed  by  them  it  will 
present  many  new  and  momentous  considerations  which  have 
not  yet  been  canvassed. 

The  popular  notion  of  a  united  South  is  but  an  impractica- 


THE    BORDER    STATES.  563 

ble  fancy.  A  united  South  is  a  more  uncertain  problem  than 
even  the  support  of  the  present  Union  under  the  difficulties 
that  now  surround  it. 

I  think  it  will  appear  to  any  careful  explorer  of  the  subject, 
that  if  the  fifteen  States  south  of  Mason  and  Dixon's  line  were 
to  enter  into  a  Confederacy  among  themselves,  such  an  organ 
ization  would  speedily  prove  itself  to  be  more  productive  of  dis 
sension  than  the  present  Union  has  been  during  the  last  twenty 
years. 

The  policy  prefigured  by  the  seceding  States  is  in  many 
points  wholly  repugnant  to  the  views  and  interests  of  the  Bor 
der  States. 

These  latter  could  never  be  reconciled  to  be  made  accom 
plices  in  the  disgrace  and  guilt  of  a  restoration  of  the  slave-trade ; 
they  would  never  undertake  to  face  the  indignation  of  Chris 
tendom  which  would  arise  upon  its  revival — much  less  would 
they  agree  to  involve  themselves  in  the  expense  and  burden 
of  the  wars  that  it  would  inevitably  provoke. 

The  Border  States  would  scarcely  less  endure  the  commer 
cial  system,  so  often  and  conspicuously  insisted  on  by  Carolina 
and  her  comrades  in  secession,  by  which  free  ports  are  demand 
ed  and  the  consequent  necessity  of  a  public  revenue  resting 
upon  direct  taxation. 

They  could  not  be  persuaded  into  that  expansive  policy  of 
annexation  and  conquest  which  has  dazzled  the  imagination 
of  the  South  and  tormented  the  ambition  of  its  people,  in  per 
sistent  forays  upon  neighboring  States  and  perpetual  schemes 
of  acquisition. 

The  Border  States  exhibit  within  their  area  a  representa 
tion  of  almost  every  interest  and  pursuit  in  the  Union.  They 
are  thriving  and  vigorous  communities,  with  most  prolific  re 
sources  for  every  species  of  industry.  Their  agriculture  fur 
nishes  an  abundant  supply  of  the  sustenance  of  life,  with  a 
large  surplus  for  external  commerce.  The  region  occupied  by 
these  States  embraces  also  a  wide  area  adapted  to  the  culture 
of  hemp  and  flax,  tobacco  and  cotton.  It  abounds  in  mineral 


564  POLITICAL    PAPERS. 

wealth,  in  water  power,  in  pasturage,  in  cattle,  sheep,  horses, 
— in  all  the  elements  of  the  most  diversified  manufacturing 
industry.  Its  healthful  climate,  its  robust  population,  and  its 
cheap  means  of  livelihood  are  singularly  favorable  to  the  growth 
and  prosperity  of  the  mechanic  arts,  the  multiplication  of  vil 
lages  and  the  gradual  increase  of  thrifty  and  industrious  work 
men  in  every  department  of  handicraft — invariably  the  best  in 
dications  of  the  progress  of  a  State  to  wealth  and  power. 

Beginning  at  the  cities  of  Baltimore,  Richmond  and  Nor 
folk  on  the  Atlantic,  and  extending  over  a  broad  domain  stud 
ded  with  flourishing  inland  towns,  it  ends  at  the  city  of  St. 
Louis  on  the  Missouri,  presenting  throughout  the  series  every 
facility  for  a  wide  and  profitable  commerce,  already  furnished 
with  railroads,  canals,  and  navigable  rivers. 

Here  are  all  the  elements  necessary  to  the  organization  of 
the  polity  of  a  first-class -power.  In  extent  of  territory,  in  re 
source,  in  population,  it  may  take  rank  among  the  master 
States  which,  in  any  new  combinations  of  the  fragments  of  our 
once  happy  Union,  broken  by  the  madness  of  faction,  may 
hereafter  be  gathered  from  the  wreck. 

In  the  worst  event  that  may  happen,  therefore,  greatly  as 
every  old-fashioned  lover  of  the  Union  may  deplore  the  neces 
sity  for  such  a  work,  here  are  the  ready  materials  for  the  con 
struction  of  a  new  nation  able  to  protect  the  welfare  of  its 
people,  secure  their  peaceful  pursuit  of  happiness,  and  furnish 
a  safe  refuge  to  all  who  may  flee  to  it  to  escape  the  disorders 
and  distractions  of  the  time. 

It  is  a  -sad  speculation  which  forces  us  to  the  computation 
of  the  resources  of  any  section  of  our  present  Union,  with  a 
view  to  the  exhibition  of  its  capacity  for  independent  existence  ; 
but  when  the  vision  of  a  united  South  is  conjured  up  to  our 
contemplation,  as  a  possible  or  impending  reality,  we  are  com 
pelled  to  face  and  question  it. 

I  have  therefore  looked  at  the  character  of  the  Border 
States,  to  show  how  incompatible  their  interests  are  likely  to 
prove  with  the  policy  which  is  deemed  essential  to  other  sec- 


THE    BORDER    STATES.  565 

tions  of  the  South.  It  must  be  apparent  from  even  this  brief 
examination,  that  communities  of  such  different  pursuits,  and 
marked  by  such  variant  conditions,  would  scarcely  find,  in 
political  alliance  with  the  projected  Southern  Confederacy, 
that  harmony  of  interests  which  is  essential  to  the  prosperity 
of  both. 

The  four  or  five  States  now  reputed  to  be  most  likely  to 
enter  into  compact  with  Carolina  may  be  described  as  chiefly 
representing  one  vast  cotton  field.  The  whole  region  embraced 
by  them  is,  in  all  physical  qualities,  if  we  except  Georgia, 
thoroughly  homogeneous.  Its  business  is  planting.  It  has  no 
mechanic  art  and  but  few  manufactures.  Its  rural  inhabitants 
are  divided  between  numerous  proprietors  of  the  soil  and  their 
slaves — the  proprietors,  in  great  degree,  migratory,  the  slaves 
stationary — thus  necessarily  creating,  in  many  locations,  a 
great  preponderance  of  slave  population.  Its  productions  are 
singularly  valuable  as  one  of  the  most  indispensable  wants  of 
mankind,  and  readily  exchangeable  into  money.  This  ex 
change  is  made  through  an  active  factorage  that  has  built  up 
prosperous  cities  and  created  a  large  commerce.  So  far  as 
this  commerce  is  concerned  with  the  planting  region,  it  is  re 
duced  into  a  simple  system  of  transactions  in  the  great  staple 
of  the  country — a  commerce  without  variety  of  resource,  and 
too  dependent  upon  the  accidents  of  a  single  product  and  the 
vicissitudes  of  season,  to  support  a  costly  mercantile  marine, 
and  which  is  therefore  compelled  to  seek  its  transporation 
from  foreign  and  friendly  sources.  Such  a  commerce,  we  must 
perceive,  is  peculiarly  exposed,  not  only  to  damage,  but  utter 
overthrow  by  the  occurrence  of  war.  In  its  overthrow,  the 
whole  resource  of  the  country  is  destroyed.  This  is  the  com 
mon  and  inevitable  weakness  of  all  merely  agricultural  coun 
tries. 

If  Louisiana,  shaken  from  her  balance  by  the  fervor  of  the 
moment,  could  be  persuaded  to  join  this  Confederacy,  she 
would  contribute,  it  is  true,  not  only  another  resource  in  her 
product  of  sugar,  but  a  great  commercial  mart  of  commanding 


POLITICAL    PAPEK3. 

importance  in  the  trade  of  the  world.  It  might  nevertheless 
be  questioned  whether  even  so  valuable  an  acquisition  as  this 
would,  in  the  end,  turn  out  to  be  a  permanent  accession  of 
strength.  The  prosperity  of  the  city  of  New  Orleans  is  so 
essentially  united  with  the  fortunes  of  the  West — in  fact,  so 
entirely  dependent  upon  them — as  to  suggest  many  possibili 
ties  of  collision,  both  en  the  part  of  the  city  and  State,  with 
the  policy  of  the  government  to  whose  control  they  would  have 
surrendered  themselves.  Indeed,  with  the  obvious  motives  for 
hesitation  which  must  occur  to  the  intelligent  judgment  of 
Louisiana,  against  the  wisdom  of  entering  into  the  proposed 
Confederacy,  it  is  scarcely  to  be  presumed  that  she  may  be  se 
duced,  even  by  the  passionate  solicitations  of  her  present  anger 
against  Northern  aggression,  into  a  measure,  in  its  best  aspect, 
so  doubtful ;  in  its  apparent  probabilities,  so  rash. 

She  cannot  slight  the  consideration  that  the  adverse  pos 
session  of  a  great  seat  of  trade  at  the  mouth  of  the  Mississippi 
may  furnish  in  the  future,  as  it  has  done  in  the  past,  a  fruitful 
source  of  quarrel  between  the  power  that  holds  it  and  the  nu 
merous  commonwealths  upon  the  banks  of  the  river  and  its 
tributaries,  which  now  claim  its  free  and  uninterrupted  use,  to 
gether  with  its  depots,  at  all  times  and  in  all  contingencies ; 
that  there  is  no  form  of  agreement  or  treaty  which  can  afford 
complete  and  invariable  protection  to  this  enjoyment ;  none 
that  would  probably  be  regarded  as  an  adequate  equivalent 
for  the  surrender  of  the  right  which  has  been  acquired  by 
purchase  out  of  the  common  treasure,  for  the  benefit  of  these 
claimants. 

Will  not  these  reflections  suggest  a  pregnant  inquiry 
whether  the  defence  of  this  mart  by  a  confederacy  foreign  to 
the  claimants  may  not  prove  a  charge  too  costly  to  be  com 
pensated  even  by  the  unquestionably  great  advantages  of  such 
a  possession?  Does  it  presignify  no  danger  that,  in  the  vex 
atious  emergencies  of  future  years,  there  may  be  provoked  a 
new  motive  in  Louisiana,  for  secession  from  a  confederacy  that 
is  to  be  built  upon  a  full  recognition  of  that  doctrine  ?  In  view 


THE    BOEDER    STATES.  .">(> 7 

of  these  possibilities  and  many  others  that  experience  may 
bring  to  light,  may  we  not  assume  that  Louisiana  will  prudent 
ly  weigh  the  question  of  her  own  permanent  peace  and  pros 
perity  before  she  takes  the  step  to  which  she  is  now  invited  ? 
Will  it  not  be  equally  well  for  the  new  Confederacy  to  delib 
erate  upon  the  point  whether  such  a  possession  may  not  be  as 
much  a  source  of  weakness  as  of  strength  ? 

Looking  back  to  the  elements — with  that  notable  excep 
tion  to  which  I  have  already  adverted — which  are  expected  to 
compose  this  Confederacy ;  to  its  people  and  pursuits,  and  the 
peculiar  character  of  a  large  portion  of  its  population  ;  to  its 
deficiency  in  mechanic  art,  its  defective  supply  of  the  staff  of 
life  ;  to  the  influence  of  its  climate  ;  to  its  entire  destitution  of 
the  means  to  build  and  man  ships,  and  to  many  other  dis 
abilities  which  will  occur  in  any  review  of  its  resources,  we  can 
not  but  think  that  this  fancied  New  Atlantis,  which  has  so  pos 
sessed  the  imagination  of  its  votaries,  will,  upon  trial,  prove 
itself  to  be  the  most  defenceless,  and,  in  a  significant  sense, 
the  weakest  of  independent  nations. 

It  may  have  some  hope  of  rising  above  this  condition  by 
the  accession  of  the  State  of  Georgia.  If  that  vigorous  com 
monwealth,  in  an  hour  of  blindness  to  its  own  happy  destiny 
in  this  Union,  should  fall  into  the  fatal  error  of  joining  in  this 
alliance,  it  will  be,  as  every  one  must  admit,  a  constituent  of 
real  strength  in  the  Confederacy.  Georgia  would  then  arise 
to  the  unenviable  supremacy  of  being  the  only  solid  and  trusty 
support  of  the  whole  fabric.  She  has  already,  under  the  au 
spices  of  a  Union  which  has  conferred  nothing  but  blessings 
upon  her,  advanced  beyond  all  her  compeers  of  the  South,  to 
the  position  of  a  truly  powerful  and  commanding  common 
wealth.  Surely,  before  she  takes  this  fatal  step,  she  will  med 
itate  over  the  prosperity  of  her  admirable  effort  in  the  estab 
lishment  of  manufactures,  her  multiplying  towns  and  villages, 
her  fertile  and  healthy  uplands,  her  rapid  growth  in  peaceful 
arts,  and  her  thousand  capabilities  of  ever-varied  industry, 
and  anxiously  and  coolly  weigh  the  question,  whether  she 


568  POLITICAL  PAPERS. 

should  put  all  these  in  jeopardy  by  submitting  them  to  the 
domination  of  such  a  policy  as  the  new  Confederacy  will  offer 
her.  But  if,  in  full  view  of  these  admonitions,  she  chooses  to 
be  led  into  the  first  movement  toward  this  combination,  may 
we  not  hope  that  in  a  calmer  moment  than  the  present  she 
will  retrace  her  steps,  and  once  more  place  her  better  destiny 
under  the  guardianship  of  the  Stars  and  Stripes — the  only 
symbol  worthy  of  her  fortunes  and  her  hopes  ? 

Georgia  has  not  yet  left  us.  Let  us  trust  to  the  clear 
judgment  and  earnest  patriotism  of  her  hosts  of  friends  to  the 
Union,  and  to  the  eloquent  and  manly  counsel  of  her  sons, 
that  she  will  move  with  more  deliberate  pace,  and  in  company 
with  more  temperate  comrades,  along  the  path  of  conciliation 
and  trial,  before  she  ventures  to  lend  a  hand  to  the  demolition 
of  the  government  under  which  she  has  grown  to  her  present 
stature.  And  if  that  day  of  destruction  must  ever  come,  let 
her  be  found  among  the  ruins,  with  kindred  congenial  to  her 
own  nature,  employed  in  the  task  of  gathering  the  fragments 
of  our  broken  Union  together  for  reconstruction  and  renewal 
of  its  ancient  harmony. 

Texas  is  looked  to  as  a  component  of  the  new  Confederacy. 
Her  lot,  if  dissolution  be  a  settled  fact,  and  a  general  saiivt 
qui  peut  should  compel  her  to  decide  upon  her  whereabout,  I 
presume,  would  be  once  more  to  raise  her  banner  of  the  Lone 
Star.  She  is  a  young  nation,  quite  able  to  take  care  of  her 
self.  She  exists  as  a  portion  of  the  American  Union  by  a 
simple  resolution  of  Congress.  A  dissolution  repeals  that  act 
and  remits  her  to  her  original  position.  She  becomes  again 
a  detached  and  independent  power ;  and,  in  that  event,  may 
wisely  judge  it  to  be  her  true  policy  to  accept  the  position  and 
maintain  it.  We  have  yet  no  proof  that  she  has  so  soon  be 
come  weary  of  the  Union  which,  but  a  few  years  gone  by,  she 
so  eagerly  sought,  and  which  has,  in  that  short  interval,  heaped 
almost  fabulous  treasures  into  her  lap.  On  the  contrary,  what 
proof  we  have  presents  her  in  the  attitude  of  a  hopeful  friend 
of  peace.  We  pray  that  she  may  prove  steadfast  to  the 


THE   BOEDER    STATES.  569 

admonitions  of  the  wise  and  true-hearted  hero  whom  she  has 
honored  with  the  highest  gifts  she  had  to  bestow ! 

This  is  a  brief  survey  of  the  materials  which,  in  the  sad 
event  of  the  disruption  of  our  Confederacy,  many  suppose 
may  be  moulded  into  a  united  South.  It  exhibits  two  divis 
ions  of  the  present  slaveholding  States — separate,  not  hos 
tile — but  divided  from  .each  other  by  nature  and  incompatible 
conditions,  impossible  to  be  brought  into  harmonious  alliance 
under  any  system  of  political  organization  founded  upon  the 
basis  of  what  are  deemed  the  essential  and  peculiar  interests 
of  either. 

I  have  endeavored  to  demonstrate  my  conviction  that  with 
whatever  caution  or  friendly  spirit  of  compromise  they  might 
begin  the  experiment  of  Confederation,  they  would  infallibly 
lapse  into  antagonisms  through  the  collision  of  which  their 
association  would  soon  be  reduced  to  a  mere  political  form,  as 
impotent  to  hold  them  together  as  our  present  Union  is  likely 
to  prove  under  the  doctrines  which  one  of  the  divisions  I  have 
mentioned  above  has  already  proclaimed  and  adopted  as  the 
indispensable  condition  of  its  alliance. 

Among  many  topics  of  discussion  which  would  arise  in  the 
course  of  that  experiment,  there  is  one  which  would  certainly 
loom  into  fearful  proportions  as  a  source  of  constantly  increas 
ing  discontent.  It  is  exemplified  in  our  present  history,  and 
would  find  even  a  more  acrimonious  revival  in  the  progress  of 
the  supposed  new  alliance. 

The  tendency  of  nearly  all — perhaps  I  might  say  of  the 
whole — of  the  Border  States,  in  considerable  portions  or  sec 
tions  of  each,  must  be  under  any  form  of  organization — wheth 
er  in  the  present  Union  or  out  of  it ;  whether  pursuing  their 
.own  welfare  united  with  the  whole  South,  or  in  a  Confederacy 
of  their  own — toward  the  increase  of  free  labor  by  immigration 
and  settlement,  and  to  a  correlative  gradual  diminution  of  slave 
labor.  That  process  is  marked  out  for  them  in  the  future,  as 
it  has  been  in  the  past,  by  the  irresistible  law  of  their  nature. 
It  is  an  onward  force  which  derives  its  vigor  from  the  stimulus 


570  POLITICAL    PAPERS. 

of  interest,  and  is  both  the  issue  and  the  exponent  of  the  pros 
perity  of  the  community  itself.  In  the  grain-growing  portions 
of  these  States,  this  process  will  be  more  rapid  ;  but,  even  in 
the  planting  portions,  though  slower  and  perhaps  for  a  time 
imperceptible,  its  influences  will  be  felt.  As  population  in 
creases  and  the  competition  of  labor*  becomes  more  intense, 
these  States  must  expect  a  continuance  of  the  same  partial  and 
progressive  mastery  of  free  over  slave  labor  which  is  now  vis 
ible  in  many  local  divisions  of  their  own  area,  and  which  has 
been  slowly  and  steadily  converting  slave  into  free  States  from 
the  date  of  the  Revolution  down  to  the  present  time.  Mary 
land,  portions  of  Virginia,  Kentucky,  and  Missouri  are  moving 
onward  to  the  final  condition — remote  but  certain — of  free 
labor  communities.  That  movement  may  be  greatly  acceler 
ated  by  extrinsic  forces.  The  enhancement  of  the  value  of 
slaves  draws  this  labor  from  a  less  productive  to  a  more  pro 
ductive  region — from  the  wheat  to  the  cotton  field.  The  de 
preciation  of  the  value  has,  to  some  extent,  a  similar  effect. 
By  impoverishing  the  owner,  it  compels  a  necessity  to  sell,  and 
the  purchaser  is  most  likely  to  be  the  agent  or  factor  of  the  cot 
ton  planter.  In  either  case  the  gradual  decrease  of  slavery  in 
the  farming  region — I  use  this  designation  in  opposition  to  the 
planting — is  the  constant  result.  The  establishment  of  the 
slave-trade  would  not  be  without  its  effect  in  the  same  direction. 
It  would  create  disgust  in  many  against  slavery  itself,  and  thus 
lead  to  emancipation.  These  contingencies  are  entitled  to  con 
sideration  as  causes  which,  in  the  lapse  of  time,  may  operate 
more  or  less  actively  upon  the  interests,  habits,  and  sentiments 
of  the  Border  States  to  produce  not  only  a  sharp  diversity  of 
views  and  policy,  but  also  dissension  and  conflict  between  them 
and  other  sections  of  the  South.  They  would  grow  to  be  reck 
oned  as  unfriendly  to  the  South,  or,  in  the  current  phrase  of 
our  day,  "  unsound  "  on  the  question  of  Southern  institutions. 
They  would  thus  be  regarded  with  a  growing  dislike,  and.  in 
the  end,  put  to  the  ban  of  extreme  Southern  opinion,  under 
the  odious  and  comprehensive  appellation  of  abolitionists. 


THE   BORDER    STATES.  571 

Not  in  this  question  alone  would  be  found  a  source  of  jeal 
ousy  and  division.  Political  ambition  would  contrive  many 
pretexts  for  quarrel,  and  parties  would  vent  their  discontents 
in  threats  of  secession  and  new  combinations.  Disunion 
would  find  a  terrible  precedent  in  the  example  of  the  pres 
ent  time,  and  grow  to  be  the  familiar  and  frequent  threat, 
and  often  the  actual  deed  of  disappointed  States.  Mr.  Jef 
ferson  long  ago  described  this  very  condition  of  things. 
His  words  now  reach  us  with  solemn  warning,  as  counsels 
sent  to  their  erring  sons  from  the  sanctuary  of  our  departed 
fathers. 

"In  every  free  and  deliberating  society,"  he  says,  in  a  let 
ter  to  John  Taylor,  in  the  year  1798,  "there  must,  from  the 
nature  of  man,  be  opposite  parties  and  violent  discussions  and 
discords ;  and  one  of  these,  for  the  most  part,  must  prevail 
over  the  other  for  a  longer  or  shorter  time.  Perhaps  this  par 
ty  division  is  necessary  to  induce  each  to  watch  and  delate  to 
the  people  the  proceedings  of  the  other.  But  if,  on  a  tempo 
rary  superiority  of  the  one  party,  the  other  is  to  resort  to  a  scis 
sion  of  the  Union,  no  Federal  Government  can  ever  exist.  If  to  rid 
ourselves  of  the  present  rule  of  Massachusetts  and  Connecti 
cut  we  break  the  Union,  will  the  evil  stop  there  ?  Suppose 
the  New  England  States  alone  cut  off,  will  our  natures  be 
changed  ?  Are  we  not  men  still,  to  the  South  of  that,  with  all 
the  passions  of  men  ?  Immediately  we  shall  see  a  Pennsylva 
nia  and  Virginia  party  arise  in  the  residuary  confederacy,  and 
the  public  mind  will  be  distracted  with  the  same  party  spirit. 
What  a  game,  too,  will  one  party  have  in  their  hands,  by  eter 
nally  threatening  each  other,  and  unless  they  do  so  and  so,  they 
will  join  their  Northern  neighbors  !  If  we  reduce  our  Union 
to  Virginia  and  North  Carolina,  immediately  the  conflict 
will  be  established  between  the  representatives  of  these  two 
States,  and  they  will  end  by  breaking  into  their  simple  units. 
Seeing,  therefore,  that  an  association  of  men  who  will  not 
quarrel  with  one  another,  is  a  thing  that  never  yet  existed, 
from  the  greatest  confederacy  of  nations  down  to  a  town 
meeting  or  a  vestry;  seeing  that  we  must  have  somebody 
to  quarrel  with,  /  had  rather  keep  our  New  England  associates 
for  that  purpose  than  to  see  our  bickerings  transferred  to  others. 
******* 

A  little  patience,  and  we  shall  see  the  reign  of  witches  pass  ever, 


572  POLITICAL    PAPERS. 

their  spells  dissolved,  and  the  people  recovering  their  true  sight, 
restoring  their  government  to  its  true  principles" 

We  may  commend  both  the  philosophy  of  these  extracts  and 
the  prophecy  with  which  they  end,  to  the  sober  meditation  of 
all  who  think  the  evils  of  the  day  incurable. 

It  is  proper  for  me  to  say  here  that  the  propositions  I  have 
submitted  as  the  foundation  of  a  settlement,  to  be  urged  by  the 
Border  States,  are  but  selections  from  the  many  suggestions 
which  have  in  various  forms  been  lately  thrown  before  the  pub 
lic.  I  have  selected  these,  not  only  because  I  think  them  al 
together  just,  in  view  of  the  rational  demands  which  both 
North  and  South  are  entitled  to  make  upon  each  other,  but 
also  because  they  seem  to  have  met  a  larger  concurrence  from 
the  conservative  portions  of  the  people,  on  both  sides,  than 
any  others  that  have  been  brought  into  discussion.  A  temper 
ate  debate  of  these  propositions  and  their  recommendation  by 
the  authority  of  a  grave  and  influential  convention  of  eminent 
citizens  representing  the  moderate  conservative  opinion  and 
th«  most  important  interests  of  the  country — which  I  do  not 
doubt  greatly  preponderate  in  both  sections,  and  are  quite  able 
to  outweigh  and  overmaster  all  the  leaders  and  followers  of  the 
ultraisms  of  both — would,  it  strikes  me,  command,  at  once,  the 
assent  of  the  most  authoritative  mass  of  citizens,  and  gradual 
ly  bring  into  submission,  if  not  concurrence,  the  whole  disturb 
ing  force  which  now  distracts  the  public  peace. 

The  advantage  which  the  Border  States  hold  in  this  contro 
versy  is  very  manifest.  As  I  have  said  before,  they  are  the 
masters  of  the  position  and  may  control  the  events  of  the 
future.  It  is  in  their  power  to  isolate  those  portions  of  the 
Union  which  are  most  violent  and  reckless  in  driving  the 
country  to  extremes,  and  thus  give  them  occasion  to  perceive 
that  they  are  to  find  no  support  out  of  the  circle  of  their  own 
impetuous  allies.  They  have,  also,  the  power  to  give,  even  to 
these,  a  strong  assurance  that  every  fair  and  just  complaint 
they  are  entitled  to  make  shall  be  redressed  by  satisfactory 
arrangements  which  they,  the  Border  States,  will  demand,  and 


THE    BORDER    STATES.  573 

will  most  assuredly  procure.  The  North  will  listen  to  their 
demands  and  meet  them  in  honorable  conference,  with  a  tem 
per  of  conciliation  which  it  would  be  hopeless  to  expect  from 
a  conference  representing  the  more  excited  and  exacting  por 
tions  of  the  South.  We  have  proof  of  this  temper  furnished 
every  day  in  the  Northern  journals.  The  abolitionists  proper, 
the  firebrands  of  the  North,  have  lost  their  influence  and 
would  have  no  share  in  any  movement  towards  a  settlement. 
The  truth  is,  that  by  far  the  greater  number  of  the  people  of 
the  Free  States  are  awakened  to  a  new  perception  of  the  dan 
ger  which  has  been  produced  by  the  violent  assaults  of  the 
North  upon  the  South,  in  which  they  themselves  have  more 
or  less  participated  without  dreaming  of  the  bitter  injuries  they 
were  inflicting  upon  the  public  peace  and  integrity  of  the 
Union.  They  have  listened  to  evil  counsellors  and  have  been 
led  away  by  the  inflammatory  philosophies  of  their  own  ambi 
tious  leaders.  They  see  this  now,  although  they  have  not  seen 
it  before ;  and  in  this  awakening  of  their  minds  to  the  reality 
of  the  crisis,  they  are  ready  and  willing  to  make  every  proper 
concession  for  the  restoration  of  present  tranquillity  and  for 
protection  against  future  disturbance.  They  are  thus  fortu 
nately  able  and  well  inclined  to  drop,  henceforth  and  forever, 
this  offensive  and  detestable  agitation  of  slavery,  which  they 
now  perceive  to  be  a  real  and  dangerous  grievance. 

Our  purpose  should  be  to  negotiate  with  this  class  of  men. 
It  can  be  only  effectually  done  by  the  Border  States.  A 
General  Convention  of  all  the  States  would,  inevitably,  pro 
duce  more  bickering  and  confusion  in  the  present  state  of 
affairs.  Even  a  General  Convention,  as  has  been  proposed, 
of  all  the  Southern  States,  with  a  view  to  their  own  course  of 
proceeding,  would  be  attended  with  the  same  difficulties.  It 
would  run  the  risk  of  being  converted  into  a  theatre  of  angry 
debate  upon  extreme  propositions,  and  would  be  as  likely,  as 
the  Charleston  Convention  in  May,  to  be  broken  up  by  the 
secession  of  discontented  members  who  could  not  get  all  they 
asked.  A  Convention  of  the  Border  States  would  have  no 


57-i  roLlTIUAL    PAPERS. 

difficulty  of  this  kind.  They  would  be  harmonious,  just  and 
reasonable  in  their  views,  and  firm  in  meeting  the  real  evils  of 
the  time,  by  offering  and  demanding  a  full  and  adequate 
remedy  for  them. 

This  would  be  their  position  in  the  first  efforts  towards 
peace  and  permanent  security.  If  they  succeed  in  obtaining 
a  just  settlement,  the  seceding  States  could  not  resist  the 
necessity  of  acquiescing  in  such  a  settlement,  and  of  returning 
to  the  Union.  As  they  calmed  clown  into  a  cooler  mood,  and 
brought  their  unclouded  judgment  to  a  consideration  of  the 
case,  they  would  cordially  approve  and  support  the  settlement, 
and  the  whole  country  would  thus  receive  an  incalculable 
benefit  from  the  present  commotion.  It  would  be  a  great  and 
happy  purification  of  the  morale  of  the  country,  and  we 
should  all  rejoice  that  the  crisis  has  been  turned  to  such  good 
account. 

But  if  this  service,  proffered  by  the  Border  States,  should 
unhappily  fail  to  produce  these  results,  in  this  first  stage  of 
the  process  of  pacification,  they  would  still  occupy  a  ground 
not  less  important  and  beneficial  in  the  second  and  more  re 
mote  phase  of  the  quarrel. 

Supposing  a  disintegration  of  the  Union,  notwithstanding 
all  efforts  to  prevent  it,  be  forced  upon  us  by  the  obstinacy  and 
impracticability  of  parties  on  each  side — the  case  would  still  be 
iar  from  hopeless.  The  Border  States,  in  that  event,  would  form, 
in  self-defence,  a  Confederacy  of  their  own,  which  would  serve 
as  a  centre  of  reinforcement  for  the  reconstruction  of  the 
Union.  The  attraction  of  interest  and  good  brotherhood  would 
instantly  become  effective  to  draw  to  this  nucleus,  one  by  one, 
every  State  in  the  Confederacy.  A  beneficent  power  of  gravi 
tation  would  work  with  irresistible  energy  in  bringing  back  the 
dislocated  fragments.  New  York,  New  Jersey,  and  Pennsyl 
vania  would  be  among  the  first  to  fall  in.  Illinois,  Indiana, 
Ohio,  perhaps  all  the  Western  States,  would  be  unable  to  resist 
the  tendency  towards  this  centre,  and  would  come  into  cohesion 
with  an  utter  abjuration  of  all  those  fancies  and  follies  which 


THE    BOEDER    STATES.  575 

have  been  engendered  by  the  slavery  question.  And  when  it 
was  seen  that  North  and  South  could  thus  unite  on  a  basis  per 
fectly  free  from  the  disturbance  of  these  old  questions,  the  more 
moderate  of  the  seceding  States — Georgia  especially,  if  she 
be  one  of  them — would  come  to  the  acknowledgment  that  their 
true  interests  directed  them  to  the  same  reunion.  Last  of  all, 
the  most  ultra  States  of  the  secession  movement  would  obey 
the  same  law  of  attraction,  and,  once  more,  after  a  lapse  of 
weary  trial  and  profitable  experience,  we  should  see  the  Union 
reconstructed  by  the  healthful  agency  of  the  Border  States. 

Those  who  have  carefully  noted  the  progress  of  political 
opinion  for  more  than  thirty  years  past,  and  marked  the  ten 
dency  of  its  teaching,  toward  the  adoption  of  certain  distinctive 
theories  of  Government  having  reference  to  supposed  geo 
graphical  interests,  have  been  able  to  predict  the  certainty  of  a 
convulsion  that,  sooner  or  later,  would  present  an  inevitable 
necessity  for  a  reconstructed,  or,  at  least,  a  reconsideration  and 
explicit  determination  of  the  principles  upon  which  the  Union 
is  to  be  preserved. 

The  present  ferment  is  but  the  verification  of  this  pre 
diction. 

If  wisely  handled,  as  I  have  shown,  it  may  be  productive 
of  inestimable  good.  If  allowed  to  solve  its  problem  under 
the  guidance  of  the  fierce  instincts  and  rash  counsels  of  those 
who  have  first  assumed  its  direction,  it  will  become  the  source 
of  an  "  Iliad  of  woes  " — not  to  the  present  generation  alone, 
but  to  many  generations  hereafter. 

The  time  and  the  occasion,  therefore,  demand  the  most 
free  and  full  examination  of  the  causes,  open  and  concealed, 
which  are  shaking  the  loyalty  of  the  people  and  turning  men's 
thoughts  towards  disunion. 

I  have  endeavored  in  these  pages  to  demonstrate  that 
there  are  other  and  more  secret  discontents  in  our  condition 
than  those  which  grow  out  of  the  slavery  question. 

While  we  painfully  perceive  and  feel  that  the  action  of  the 
Northern  States  on  that  question,  and,  still  more,  the  wicked 


576  POLITICAL    PAPERS. 

fanaticism  of  individuals  and  sects  in  preaching  hostility  to 
the  peace  of  the  South,  have  kindled  in  the  mind  of  the  whole 
population  of  this  division  of  the  United  States  a  profound  and 
just  indignation  against  this  wanton  spirit  of  aggression  which, 
if  not  arrested,  we  have  long  been  conscious,  would  surely  lead 
to  a  rupture  of  the  Union, — it  is  also  a  matter  of  deep  concern 
that  we  should  apprehend  and  notice  the  fact  that  there  are 
other  disturbing  forces  operating  upon  sections  of  the  South 
— perhaps  in  some  degree  owing  their  vitality  to  the  alienation 
produced  by  the  slavery  agitation,  but  now  apart  from  it  and 
looking  to  other  subjects, — which  have  grown  to  be  seriously 
hostile  to  the  harmony  of  our  united  system  of  government. 
My  aim  has  been  to  bring  these  into  view,  as  well  as  the  more 
pervading  topic  of  discontent,  in  order  that,  in  the  attempt  to 
restore  peace  and  confidence,  which  is  practicable  through  the 
settlement  of  the  slavery  dispute,  we  may  not  be  misled  by  the 
clamor  of  those  to  whom  such  a  settlement  would  be  but  the 
frustration  of  a  cherished  design.  The  dissatisfaction  of  this 
class  of  agitators  must  be  left  to  the  cure  of  time.  There  is 
no  mode  of  treating  it  but  to  let  it  alone,  consigning  it  to  the 
good  sense  and  right  reason  which  it  has  to  encounter  at  home. 

It  will,  doubtless,  be  received  as  a  bold  assertion,  when  I 
say  that  the  slavery  question,  as  one  for  political  cognizance 
in  the  United  States,  presents  the  most  futile  subject  for  leg 
islation  or  administrative  policy,  perhaps,  within  the  whole 
range  of  measures  consigned  to  the  notice  of  government. 

It  cannot  be  controverted  that  the  whole  power  of  the  Fed 
eral  Government  is  inadequate  to  change  the  condition  of  a 
single  slave  within  any  State  of  the  Union.  Nor  can  any  com 
bination  of  party,  with  all  the  aids  which  the  apparatus  of  gov 
ernment  may  afford,  with  all  the  temper  of  proscription  and  in 
tolerance  that  fanatical  zeal  may  beget,  with  all  the  concur 
rence  of  sectional  State  legislation,  ever  be  able  to  make  a 
successful  invasion  of  the  rights  of  the  smallest  of  the  Slave 
States.  Such  an  attempt  would  meet  the  instant  resistance 
not  only  of  the  whole  circle  of  those  States,  but  with  the  re- 


THE    BORDER    STATES.  577 

sistance  of  three-fourths  of  the  people  of  the  whole  country. 
That  parties  and  individuals  may  threaten  irrepressible  conflicts 
and  undying  hostility,  is  true.  But,  as  to  acting  upon  such 
threats,  the  Constitution  renders  them  as  powerless  as  chil 
dren. 

And  in  regard  to  slavery  in  the  territories — although  there 
may  be  ground  on  which  the  government  may  claim  to  control 
it,  I  affirm  that,  as  a  practicable  policy,  no  exercise  of  that  pow 
er,  in  the  present  actual  condition  of  the  domain  possessed  by 
the  nation,  can  either  force  the  establishment  of  slavery  into  a 
territory  ungenial  to  it,  nor  keep  it  out  of  one  adapted  to  its 
employment  I  mean,  that  there  is  no  motive  of  interests  to 
take  slavery,  as  a  permanent  thing,  to  a  region  where  it  is  un 
productive  ;  nor  any  motive,  either  political  or  philanthropic, 
to  forbid  its  transfer  to  the  region  where  it  is  essential  to  the 
interests  of  production.  At  this  time  we  have  no  territory  in 
which  there  is  any  possibility  of  raising  the  question  ;  but  if 
we  should  obtain  one  in  a  planting  region,  it  would  be  settled 
from  the  population  of  the  slaveholding  States  without  a  nota 
ble  opposition  from  any  section  of  the  Union. 

The  agitation  of  slavery,  therefore,  notwithstanding  its  en 
grossment  of  the  country  and  the  odious  prominence  it  has  as 
sumed,  is,  after  all,  but  a  parade  of  idle  and  mischievous  de 
bate.  It  lives  upon  the  incessant  ministration  of  stimulants 
supplied  by  small  declaimers  in  quest  of  notoriety.  It  is,  in 
the  present  generation,  a  moral  epidemic  which  has  seized 
upon  whole  districts,  like  St.  Anthony's  Dance  in  the  four 
teenth  century.  The  fancy  of  getting  up  "  a  great  abomina 
tion,"  in  order  to  turn  it  to  account  as  a  topic  of  popular 
preaching,  is  as  old  as  the  first  consecrated  cobbler.  Nor  is 
it  at  all  a  new  thing  to  set  up  a  popular  sin  to  be  extirpated  by 
law.  Many  quack  politicians  have  been  wasting  their  energies 
for  years  upon  the  abortive  attempt  to  legislate  peaceable  fam 
ilies  into  the  disuse  of  spirituous  liquors,  by  bringing  alcohol 
into  platforms  and  making  parties  upon  it ;  but  alcohol  has 
gained  the  day  and  the  Maine  Liquor  Law  has  become  a  dead 
25 


578  POLITICAL    PAPERS. 

letter.  The  world  laughs  at  this  prodigality  of  ineffectual  zeal. 
May  we  not  learn  to  treat  with  quiet  scorn  the  more  malignant 
but  still  impotent  ebullitions  of  the  sanctimonious  vanity  of 
New  England  ? 

In  truth,  slavery  has  not,  in  itself — I  mean  African  slavery 
as  now  existing  in  the  United  States — the  condition  for  any  ve 
hemently  honest  indignation  against  it ;  nor,  on  the  other  side, 
for  any  vehemently  honest  affection  for  it.  It  is  simply  a  very 
appropriate  and  necessary  agent  in  the  interests  of  civilization 
where  it  is ;  and  would  be,  generally,  a  very  wretched  thing 
where  it  is  not.  The  wrath  that  is  stirred  against  it,  and  the  pa 
triarchal  beauty  that  is  claimed  for  it,  are  both  the  offsprings 
of  excited  imaginations.  African  slavery,  in  this  country,  at 
least,  is,  for  the  most  part,  a  clear  gain  to  the  savage  it  has  civ 
ilized.  Whatever  it  may  be  to  others,  it  has  been  a  blessing 
to  him.  It  is  also  clearly  a  blessing  to  Massachusetts,  and  to 
England,  France,  Germany.  But,  it  is  a  very  doubtful  bless 
ing  to  the  master  who  has  charged  himself  with  the  solicitude 
of  supporting,  employing,  and  caring  for  the  slave  ;  it  is,  at 
best,  but  a  mixed  and  greatly  diluted  blessing  to  him.  Strange, 
that  those  who  enjoy  the  unmixed  blessing  of  sharing  the  prof 
its  of  slavery,  should  be  the  rancorous  conspirators  against  the 
peace  of  him  who  takes  all  its  burdens  and  hazards  upon  him 
self! 

The  true  solution  of  all  this  extravagance  is,  that  the  im 
portance  given  to  the  questions  evolved  by  the  slavery  excite 
ment,  is  the  mere  artifice  of  politicians.  Our  slavery  would 
have  slept  quiet  under  the  surface  of  society,  until  the  day 
of  its  appointed  term,  if  it  had  not  been  found  serviceable  as 
a  figure  for  the  arena  of  politics.  Unfortunately,  it  is  a  topic 
of  singular  capability  for  either  a  discourse  in  the  pulpit  or  a 
speech  upon  the  stump ;  the  most  fruitful  for  exaggeration, 
the  most  sensitive  for  alarm.  It  has  proved  to  be  a  "  draw 
ing"  theme  for  sensation  parsons  in  pursuit  of  popularity  ;  for 
sensation  politicians  in  pursuit  of  the  Senate  ;  for  speculative 
editors  who  are  anxious  to  increase  their  subscription  lists  by 


THE    BORDER    STATES.  579 

means  of  pious  politics  and  cheap  philanthropy.  It  has  shown 
itself  capable  of  converting  atrabilious  tradesmen  into  govern 
ors,  legislators,  and  judges  ;  and  of  lifting  up  innumerable 
apprentices,  journeymen,  colporteurs  and  pedagogues  to  the 
elevation  of  shining  lights  in  the  Conventicle.  It  has  fired 
the  soul  of  many  a  cross-road  orator  of  the  "  sunny  South" 
with  indignant  and  eloquent  wrath  against  universal  Yankee- 
dom  ;  and  given  birth  to  scores  of  conventions  and  thousands 
of  resolutions,  to  expound  the  Constitution  on  the  theory 
that  its  authors  did  not  know  what  they  were  about. 

Then,  again,  it  has  furnished  to  strong-minded  women, 
who  have  declared  their  independence  of  the  petticoat,  an  oc 
casion  for  an  equally  heroic  abnegation  of  the  prejudice  of  col 
or,  an-d  so  to  bring  both  pantaloons  and  amalgamation  into 
their  bill  of  rights. 

It  has  over  and  over  again  supplied  a  conclave  of  crazy  fa 
natics,  in  the  orgies  of  their  anniversaries,  with  an  opportunity 
to  denounce  the  Union  as  a  covenant  of  hell,  and  the  Bible  and 
the  Constitution  as  a  double  curse  to  mankind.  It  has,  on  the 
other  hand,  wrought  the  remarkable  effect  of  diverting  hot 
headed  young  politicians  from  their  newspapers  to  the  study  of 
the  Scriptures  to  find  texts  in  the  Pentateuch  and  the  Epistles 
of  Paul,  to  convict  the  whole  North  of  the  iniquity  of  blas 
pheming  the  "divine  institution." 

It  has  done  all  this  and  a  thousand  times  as  much,  but  it 
has  never  yet  succeeded  in  establishing  a  single  point  for  which 
it  has  professed  to  contend,  nor  accomplished  a  single  result  at 
which  slavery  would  not  have  sooner  arrived,  if  left  to  the  silent 
evolution  of  its  own  destiny  ;  always  excepting,  from  this  denial 
of  its  doings,  that  solitary  achievement — in  which  its  success 
has  been  perfect — the  opening  of  a  Pandora  box  of  murder, 
rapine,  implacable  hatred  and  revenge. 

It  has  made  and  defeated  Presidents,  cabinets,  and  diplo 
matists,  has  got  up  wars  and  annexations,  built  and  destroyed 
platforms  ;  but  it  has  been  utterly  impotent  to  arrest  the  steady 
increase  of  slave  labor,  or  its  transfer  to  whatever  region  it 


580  POLITICAL    PAPERS. 

has  been  found  profitable  to  remove  it.  So  far  from  promo 
ting  lawful  emancipation,  or  checking  either  the  growth  or 
productiveness  of  slavery,  it  has  wholly  arrested  the  first, 
and  has  witnessed  the  augmentation  of  the  value  of  the  slave 
and  the  profits  of  his  work  a  hundredfold  since  the  agitation 
began. 

These  are  the  chief  triumphs,  and  these  the  failures  of  a 
slavery  agitation  of  thirty  years,  conducted  by  men  claiming 
to  be  intellectual,  conscientious,  and  stricken  with  a  conviction 
that  it  is  the  great  and  paramount  duty  of  the  age  to  reform, 
what  they  have  wrought  themselves  to  believe,  the  damning 
sin  of  a  nation.  For  this,  clergymen  who  think  they  have  "a 
mission, v  spouters  who  think  themselves  orators,  and  politi 
cians  who  think  themselves  statesmen,  have  gone  on  laboring 
all  these  thirty  years,  in  the  same  ceaseless  and  fruitless  rou 
tine  of  sermons,  philippics,  conventions,  and  discourses  ;  vex 
ing  the  heart  of  the  South  with  vulgar  vituperation  and  insult, 
and  ruffling  the  temper  of  Congress  with  silly  petitions  to  do  im 
possible  things,  showered,  in  endless  profusion  of  repetition, 
from  the  kitchens  and  primary  schools  and  factories  of  New 
England. 

So  far  as  the  agitation  kept  within  the  limits  of  this  phase 
of  its  career,  it  was  comparatively  harmless.  It  could  only 
provoke,  but  could  not  sting.  In  the  language  of  the  reviewer 
I  have  quoted  above :  "  It  could  but  make  us  angry."  The 
South,  indeed,  are  to  blame  for  their  loss  of  temper  under 
this  provocation  ;  as  that  really  afforded  the  assailants  the  only 
gratification  they  had.  It  would  have  been  wiser  to  treat  it  as 
more  self-possessed  nations  are  accustomed  to  treat  the  extrava 
gancies  of  fanaticism  ;  as  we  ourselves,  indeed,  now  treat  Mor- 
monism,  or  free  love,  or  the  nonsense  of  Fourierism. 

But  the  agitation  in  the  last  few  years  has  become  venom 
ous.  It  has  directed  its  activity  towards  disunion  and  destruc 
tion  of  the  Government.  Finding  that  the  pretence  of  consci 
entious  regard  for  law  and  action  within  the  pale  of  the  stat 
utes  cramped  its  benevolent  designs,  it  changed  its  tactics  and 


THE    BORDER    STATES.  581 

entered  into  a  more  congenial  career — devoting  its  energy  to  a 
plot  for  illegal  and  even  treasonable  disturbance,  by  enlisting 
companies  and  providing  facilities  for  stealthy  abduction  of 
slaves,  by  provoking  servile  insurrection,  and  by  armed  incur 
sions  against  the  peace  of  communities  within  the  slavehold- 
ing  region  •  while,  at  the  same  time,  it  solicited  and  won  the 
co-operation  of  many  States  to  this  organized  plan  of  felony, 
so  far  as  to  obtain  from  them  the  passage  of  laws  to  nullify  the 
provision  of  the  Constitution  and  the  statutes  of  the  National 
Legislature  for  the  recovery  of  the  fugitives  which  might  escape 
or  be  abducted  from  the  South. 

This  is  the  second  and  now  existing  phase  of  the  agita 
tion.  Could  any  sensible  man  in  the  North  suppose  that  a 
union  of  our  States  was  at  all  possible  if  this  system  of  assault 
and  disturbance  were  recognized  and  sustained  by  any  respec 
table  or  authoritative  opinion  in  the  Free  States  ?  Could  any 
one  imagine  that  if  such  a  system  of  annoyance  should  receive 
the  sanction  of  legislative  bodies,  of  conventions  representing 
a  predominant  power  in  any  State,  of  religious  communities, 
of  parsons  holding  a  grade  above  an  insane  fanatic,  of  profes 
sors  of  colleges,  lawyers,  merchants  or  gentlemen  of  any  weight 
in  society — in  short,  of  any  portion  of  Northern  society  that 
might  be  regarded  as  the  exponent  of  the  common  opinion  of 
the  community — and  not  inevitably  and  inexorably  force  upon 
the  whole  South,  not  only  the  desire,  but  the  duty  to  retire 
from  a  compact  of  union  with  all  such  States  as  fostered  such 
an  agitation  ?  Between  independent  nations,  such  provocations 
would  be  the  instant  and  just  cause  of  war,  and  no  nation,  with 
the  power  to  protect  its  own  peace  and  honor,  would  hesitate 
to  vindicate  itself  in  that  way. 

This  latter  scheme  of  aggression  presents  the  first  earnest 
and  effective  movement  towards  disunion  which  has  been  made 
outside  of  the  seceding  States.  The  Free  States  which  have 
encouraged,  or  co-operated  in,  this  scheme,  may  claim  what 
ever  credit  there  is  in  being  the  first  to  set  the  ball  of  disunion 
in  motion*.  The  Border  States,  though  the  chief  sufferers  from 


582  POLITICAL    PAPERS. 

these  attacks,  have  been  loyal  to  the  Constitution  and  Union, 
when  these  agitators  have  been  recreant. 

When  the  Republican  party  was  organized  in  the  bosom 
of  this  agitation,  and  abstract  and  useless  speculations,  touch 
ing  the  control  of  slavery  by  the  Federal  Government,  were 
brought  into  the  political  field  by  both  parties,  to  heighten  and 
embitter  the  feud  between  the  two  sections ;  when  all  the  pres 
tige  and  power  of  organized  political  forces  predominant  in  the 
popular  vote  of  the  Union,  were  enlisted  in  battle  array  against 
the  South  ;  when  a  President  and  Vice-President,  contrary  to 
all  previous  usage,  were  selected  from  the  same  section  to  rep 
resent  it  j  and  when  this  new  embodiment  was  heralded  to  the 
country,  with  proclamation  that  its  purpose  was  the  adminis 
tration  of  the  Government  towards  the  enforcement  of  the  theory 
of  an  irrepressible  conflict  with  slavery,  until  every  vestige  of 
it  should  be  banished  from  the  Republic  ;  and  that  the  aid  of 
a  higher  law  than  the  Constitution  should  be  sought  for  the  rati 
fication  of  the  act, — was  there  not  enough  to  propagate  a  wide 
and  fearful  alarm  throughout  the  whole  South  for  the  safety, 
not  only  of  its  property,  but  of  its  very  existence  ? 

The  systematic  abduction  of  slaves,  through  organized 
Northern  agencies,  is  already  sequestering  not  much  less  than 
a  million  of  Southern  wealth  every  year.  The  final  consum 
mation  of  this  movement  to  the  destruction  of  slavery,  would 
be  the  sequestration  of  one  or  two  thousand  millions  of  that 
wealth.  It  would  be  to  turn  several  States  back  into  a  jungle 
for  wild  beasts.  It  would  be  to  paralyze  the  industry  and  sub 
tract  one-half  from  the  comforts  of  Europe  and  America.  Is 
it  at  all  wonderful  that  now,  when  that  party  has  succeeded  and 
has  elected  its  President,  that  the  alarm  of  the  South  should 
be  increased,  and  that  the  Southern  States  should  feel  that  a 
crisis  had  been  forced  upon  them  which  is  to  determine  wheth 
er  we  can  have  a  Union  in  peace — or  peace  without  a  Union  ? 

These  are  the  true  sources  of  alarm  to  the  South,  and  these 
the  questions  which  the  people  there  earnestly  believe  they  have 
to  solve. 


THE    BORDER    STATES.  583 

If  it  were  really  true  that  the  whole  North  were  united  in 
this  scheme  of  aggression,  then,  indeed,  the  case  would  be 
hopeless.  Hundreds  of  thousands  in  the  South — the  great  ma 
jority  of  the  people — believe  this  to  be  so.  But  it  is  not  true. 
Happily,  it  is  not  true.  The  belief  is  the  delusion  by  which 
the  Southern  mind  has  been  cruelly  abused  :  abused  by  credu 
lous  and  ardent  politicians  ;  by  selfish  demagogues  ;  by  a  pre 
judice,  and,  sometimes,  by  a  wicked  press  ;  by  the  politicians 
of  party,  who  hope  to  find  in  the  wreck  of  society  something 
serviceable  to  the  reconstruction  of  their  power.  No,  it  is  not 
true  that  these  are  the  purposes  of  any  portion  of  the  Free 
States,  worthy  of  a  moment's  consideration  as  a  force  to  influ 
ence  the  current  of  government.  Three-fourths — I  might  say 
nine-tenths — of  the  people  of  the  Free  States  are  as  guiltless 
of  any  imagining  against  the  rights  of  the  South,  or  its  peace 
ful  enjoyment  of  its  own  pursuits,  as  the  people  of  the  South 
themselves.  Any  one  acquainted  with  the  real  opinion  of  the 
North  will  say,  that  the  masses  in  those  States  are  profoundly 
unconscious  of  the  tendency  of  the  doctrines  of  which  they 
have  heard  so  much,  towards  any  serious  assault  upon  the  South. 
Their  prurient  tastes  have  been  fed  to  plethora,  with  stories  of 
the  barbarism  of  slavery  ;  and,  naturally  enough,  they  believe 
that  it  is  a  very  bad  thing ;  but  as  to  meddling  with  it,  further 
than  going  to  hear  a  lecture  upon  it  by  the  Rev.  Mr.  Pepper- 
pot,  and  to  feast  upon  his  spiced  flummery,  they  have  not  the 
least  wish  or  purpose.  As  to  dissolving  the  Union  for  it  ! — 
they  open  their  eyes  to  an  incredulous  stare,  and  won't,  even 
now,  believe  that  there  is  a  man  in  the  United  States  so  insane 
as  to  dream  of  such  a  thing. 

To  the  conception  of  all  this  mass,  constituting  the  whole 
real  power  of  the  Free  States,  the  Republican  party  and  the 
Republican  President  are  but  the  regular  successors  to  the  ad 
ministration  of  the  government  which,  in  their  belief,  is  to  be 
conducted  in  the  old  fashion  of  attending  to  the  business  of 
the  country,  to  the  preservation  of  the  Union,  and  to  giving  as 


584:  POLITICAL    PAPER?. 

much  content  as  possible  to  every  section  ana  every  interest 
in  the  country. 

They  are  quite  ready — I  speak  now  of  the  people,  and  not 
of  the  politicians ;  the  latter  have  already  prc  ve  1  themselves 
to  be  Incapables,  and  the  matter  will  have  to  be  taken  out  of 
their  hands — these  masses  are  now  quite  ready  to  make  any 
arrangements,  constitutional  or  conventional,  which  mny  be 
found  necessary  for  peace.  They  will  come  to  any  reasonable 
agreement  upon  intervention  or  non-intervention,  squatter  or 
non-squatter  sovereignty,  protection  or  non-protection  of  slav 
ery  in  the  territories, — without  the  attempt  to  unriddle  these 
jargons, — that  may  be  found  requisite  for  the  restoration  of 
good  temper  and  good  will  among  the  States.  They  will  do 
any  thing  to  save  the  Union  on  principles  adapted  to  make  it  per 
petual.  It  will  not  be  three  months  before  that  will  be  the 
whole  creed  of  the  Republican  party.  Let  the  South  be  as 
sured  of  this. 

The  first  duty  of  conciliation  lies  on  the  side  of  that  party. 
Let  the  North  dismiss  its  obstinacy  and  its  silence,  and  come, 
with  its  customary  shrewdness,  to  doing  the  right  thing.  Get 
slavery  out  of  that  gigantic  and  tenacious  conscience  of  theirs, 
which  is  such  a  voracious  absorbent  of  other  people's  sins, 
and  fill  its  place  with  Christian  charity,  and  love  of  its  neigh 
bor,  and  other  forgotten  virtues,  and  we  shall  then  find  some 
returning  sunshine.  But  let  the  Free  States  everywhere,  and 
the  sober,  reflective,  and  honest  men  in  them,  understand,  that 
the  old  Union  is  an  impossibility  unless  the  agitation  of  slavery  is 
brought  to  an  end. 

There  is  nothing  in  the  election  of  Mr.  Lincoln  which  may 
now  be  regarded  as  an  obstacle  to  this  pacification.  With 
whatever  apprehension  many  may  have  allowed  themselves  to 
anticipate,  from  that  election,  the  inauguration  of  a  policy 
which  would  be  one  of  continual  exasperation,  it  is  veiy  evi 
dent,  now  that  the  election  is  over  and  the  views  of  the  new 
President  are  becoming  known  through  the  best  accredited 
organs  of  the  party  he  represents,  that  there  is  no  reason  to 


THK    BORDER    STATES.  585 

fear  his  administration  will  not  be  conducted  with  a  salutary 
and  becoming  respect  for  the  rights  and  interests  of  every 
portion  of  the  country.  Indeed,  from  the  date  of  the  nomi 
nation  of  Mr.  Lincoln,  the  presages  of  political  events  have 
all  been  favorable  to  a  better  hope  of  the  future  than  we 
might  gather  from  the  pernicious  zeal  and  intemperate  proc 
lamation  of  those  who  assumed  to  be  the  leading  champions 
and  most  authentic  expounders  of  the  principles  of  his  party. 

His  nomination  was  both  a  surprise  and  a  disappointment 
to  what  may  be  termed  the  most  demonstrative  portion  of  the 
Republican  party.  He  was  selected  as  the  more  eligible  can 
didate,  in  the  belief  that  he  would  attract  a  support  from  States 
and  large  masses  of  the  people  who  were  not  willing  to  adopt 
the  extreme  views  upon  which  his  rival  for  the  nomination  was 
put  forward.  And  in  the  eventual  trial  he  was  elected,  in 
great  part,  by  a  vote  representing  rather  an  opposition  to  the 
democratic,  than  a  concurrence  with  the  distinctive  and  excep 
tionable  principles  of  the  Republican  party.  In,  other  words, 
Mr.  Lincoln  was  both  nominated  and  elected  by  what  may  be 
called  the  moderate,  conservative  division  of  the  Republican 
party.  And  it  is  now  claimed  for  him — and  apparently  with 
his  own  approbation — that  he  stands  before  the  people  of  the 
United  States  unembarrassed  by  the  extreme  pretensions  which 
were  set  up  for  the  party  in  the  canvass;  and  that  he  will 
enter  into  office  not  only  with  the  determination,  but  with  the 
desire  to  render  his  administration  one  of  impartial  justice  to 
the  South. 

There  is  at  least  a  good  omen  in  this,  and  the  strongest 
motive  for  an  appeal  to  the  South  to  wait  for  more  explicit 
demonstration  of  the  policy  of  the  coming  administration. 

If  the  seceding  States,  in  their  zeal  for  a  separate  confed 
eracy,  are  not  willing  to  wait  for  this  demonstration,  it  will 
be  justly  regarded  by  the  world  as  a  confession  that  the  revo 
lution  in  which  they  have  embarked  has  only  been  promoted, 
but  not  originated,  by  the  event  upon  which  they  have  here 
tofore  placed  its  justification. 
25'"' 


58  1  POLITICAL    PAPER?. 

If  they  are  not  willing  to  wait,  the  Border  States  will  not 
be  shaken  from  their  resolves  to  wait  and  avail  themselves  of 
every  favorable  incident  that  may  be  turned  to  the  account  of 
peaceful  adjustment. 

Upon  the  new  President  will  then  devolve  the  responsibility 
of  bringing  the  influence  of  the  government,  and  the  weight 
of  his  own  admonition  and  example,  to  the  duty  of  denning 
and  determining  (if  that  be  not  successfully  done  by  his  friends 
before  his  inauguration)  the  pledges  which  his  party  are  dis 
posed  to  give  for  the  permanent  establishment  of  friendly 
relations  between  the  two  sections  of  the  Union.  We  have 
no  reason  to  doubt  that  Mr.  Lincoln's  influence  to  this  end 
will  be  propitious  to  peace.  It  will  then  be  seen,  that  in  the 
position  assumed  by  the  Border  States — in  their  firmness,  jus 
tice,  and  dignified  bearing  throughout  this  controversy — they 
will  have  become  the  authoritative  and  controlling  power  to 
devise  and  establish  the  foundations  of  a  secure  and  durable 
settlement,  with  every  provision  for  the  preservation  of  South 
ern  rights  which  the  seceding  States  themselves  could  reason 
ably  demand. 

BALTIMORE,  December  17, 1860. 


THE    GREAT    DRAMA.  58T 


THE   GKEAT   DEAMA. 

AN    APPEAL    TO    MARYLAND. 

IT  is  the  most  deplorable  misfortune  of  our  unhappy  coun 
try,  at  this  moment,  that  it  has  no  authentic  voice  to  speak 
its  honest,  sober  judgment  on  the  public  affairs.  Here  we  are 
in  Maryland,  involved  in  a  dreadful  revolution  which  has  al 
ready  convulsed  society  to  the  centre,  torn  up  its  prosperity  by 
the  roots,  sown  discord  in  families,  alienated  old  and  familial- 
friends,  and  spread  consternation  through  the  whole  communi 
ty.  It  has  visited  peaceful  and  thriving  households  with  want, 
stricken  down  fortunes  acquired  by  long  and  patient  industry, 
scattered  the  small  accumulations  of  humble  thrift,  and  re 
duced  to  absolute  beggary  thousands  and  thousands  of  the 
best  and  most  useful  of  our  working  population.  These  are 
the  ravages  of  the  first  act  in  the  Great  Drama. 

The  second  act  is  about  to  open  upon  us.  The  pride  and 
flower  of  our  youth  are  in  arms.  Hostile  camps  are  gathering 
their  forces.  Wild,  ungovernable  and  savage  men  are  openly 
and  stealthily  armed  with  terrible  weapons.  Hatreds  are  cast 
abroad  and  sown  in  fierce  hearts  Denunciation  and  proscrip 
tion  are  uttered  in  undertones  and  with  ominous  threats  of 
mischief.  Soot?  we  shall  hear  the  clash  of  arms.  What  then  ? 
Read  the  wars  of  the  Roses ;  read  the  marches  and  the  raids 
of  Cromwell ;  the  ravages  of  the  Palatinate  ;  the  fusilades  of 
Lyons.  Read,  at  random,  any  page  that  records  the  rage,  the 
demonism,  the  hellish  passion  of  civil  war,  and  fancy  the  sack 
of  cities,  the  brutal  and  indiscriminate  murder  of  old  and  young 
of  either  sex,  the  rape  and  rapine,  the  conflagration,  the  shriek 
of  surprised  families,  the  midnight  flight  of  mothers  and  chil- 


POLITICAL    PAPERS. 

dren  tracking  their  way  with  bleeding  feet — the  mourning,  the 
desolation,  the  despair  which  are  all  painted  in  such  horrid  col 
ors  in  that  history — fancy  all  these  pictures  converted  into  the 
realities  of  our  own  experience,  and  we  shall  then  come  to  the 
perception  of  the  second  act  of  this  portentous  drama. 

How  does  it  come  to  pass  that  this,  our  prosperous  State 
of  Maryland — this,  our  beautiful  City  of  Baltimore,  is  suddenly 
hurled  into  the  bosom  of  this  commotion  ?  Why  is  it  that 
Maryland,  so  remote  from  the  first  theatre  of  revolution,  so 
little  concerned  in  its  issues,  so  reluctant  to  take  sides  in  this 
miserable  quarrel — Maryland,  "happy  and  peaceful — why  is  it 
that  she  is  doomed  to  stand  forward,  the  first  to  encounter  the 
sweep  of  this  storm,  to  bear  its  continuous  brunt,  and  to  give 
up  her  substance,  her  children  and  her  homes,  to  the  alternate 
ravage  of  contending  factions,  until  war,  wearied  with  slaughter 
and  exhausted  by  its  own  destruction,  shall  no  longer  find  a 
victim  or  a  country  to  punish  ? 

We  answer  this  terrible  question  truly  when  we  say  that 
Maryland,  like  her  sisters  of  the  Confederacy,  is  allowed  no 
free  and  honest  expression  of  her  thoughts.  It  is  too  painfully 
obvious  that  Maryland  opinion  is  surrendered  to  the  control 
of  influences  that  repress  all  wise  and  earnest  consideration  of 
the  momentous  topics  that  belong  to  the  public  welfare.  Its 
key-note  is  derived  from  the  heated  utterances  of  passionate 
and  thoughtless  youth,  of  impressible  women  and  girls,  of  infu 
riated  politicians,  of  all  that  multitude  of  excitable,  rash,  un 
reasoning  persons  who  fly  to  conclusions  under  the  impulse  of 
prejudice,  desire  or  interest ;  and  lastly  and  more  significantly, 
of  wily,  unscrupulous  partisan  leaders  who  are  moved  by  pre 
meditated  design  to  accomplish  a  selfish  party  triumph.  In 
the  domineering  ascendancy  of  these  agencies  over  the  public 
mind,  the  quiet,  reflective  good  sense  of  the  community  is  re 
pressed  ;  the  orderly  and  industrious  are  kept  in  the  back 
ground  ;  the  timid  are  overawed ;  the  weak  are  silenced,  and 
the  credulous  are  misled. 

The  whole  movement  towards  secession,  even  in  the  States 


THE    GREAT    DRAMA.  589 

most  favorable  to  it,  has  been  artfully  promoted  by  the  fabrica 
tions  of  a  false  opinion.  It  has  been  borne  along  by  a  whirl 
wind  of  contrived  excitement.  The  passions  of  the  people 
have  been  inflamed  by  exaggerated  representations  of  impend 
ing  dangers ;  by  skilful  exhibition  of  the  idle  ravings  of  mad 
and  wicked  fanatics  as  the  settled  views  of  the  Government ; 
by  startling  conjunctures  preconcerted  by  the  managers  to 
madden  the  temper  and  overwhelm  the  discretion  of  the  popu 
lace,  and  by  provoking  outbreak  and  violence  as  the  topics  for 
frantic  appeal  to  the  manhood  and  patriotism  of  the  State. 
The  unnecessary  bombardment  of  the  starving  garrison  of 
Sumter  was  intended  to  stimulate  the  reluctant  mind  of  Vir 
ginia  to  secession.  The  simultaneous  seizures  of  Gosport 
Navy  Yard  and  of  Harper's  Ferry  were  the  arranged  stimulants 
to  confirm  the  wavering  resolution  of  that  State.  The  futile 
and  calamitous  attempt  to  resist  the  passage  of  the  troops 
through  Maryland  was  but  another  spur  to  quicken  the  speed 
of  secession,  by  driving  the  State  against  its  better  judgment 
into  rebellion.  The  secession  enterprise,  everywhere,  has  been 
remarkably  characterized  by  the  signs  of  a  conspiracy  to  give 
the  minority  a  command  over  the  majority.  It  avoids  refer 
ence  to  the  popular  consent,  screens  its  plans  from  public  crit 
icism  by  secret  sessions,  and  plies  the  machinery  of  passion  to 
rush  the  people  into  the  abyss  of  revolution,  with  the  renuncia 
tion  of  all  thought  and  forecast  of  its  consequences. 

There  is  something  ungenerous,  and  even  worse,  in  the  ad 
vantage  which  the  Seceding  States  have  taken  of  the  wise  and 
patriotic  sentiment  of  the  Border  States  against  coercion. 
When  these  latter  States  pledged  themselves,  in  the  beginning 
of  the  rupture,  that  they  would  not  sanction  any  attempt  of  the 
Government  to  coerce  the  Seceders  into  submission,  it  was  a 
pledge  that  the  experiment  of  secession  should  be  allowed  to 
take  its  allotted  course  in  peace,  with  the  hope  that  peace 
would  bring  calm  judgment  into  action,  and,  through  its  influ 
ence,  an  early  return  to  harmony  in  the  Union.  Such  a  pledge 
implied  a  counter-pledge  of  moderation  of  counsel  and  honest 


590  POLITICAL    PAPERS. 

confidence  in  the  unbiassed  judgment  of  the  people,  by  the  Se 
ceding  States.  It  implied  that  the  good  sense  of  the  country 
should  be  left  free  to  act,  with  perfect  immunity  from  artificial 
excitement,  on  the  whole  subject  wherever  it  might  be  brought 
into  debate.  Instead  of  granting  this  freedom  from  agitation 
to  the  Border  States,  the  secession  party  of  the  South,  taking 
advantage  of  the  promise  against  coercion,  has  busily  employ 
ed  itself  in  provoking  collision  by  assault  and  spreading  pan 
ic  by  alarm,  and  thus  stirring  the  population  of  the  Border 
into  sudden  revolt  against  the  Government.  They  contrive 
a  necessity  for  coercion,  and  then  call  on  the  Border  States 
to  resist  it,  in  fulfilment  of  a  promise  really  made  to  secure 
peace. 

Such  are  the  conditions  in  which  Maryland  is  now  invoked 
to  imbrue  her  hands  in  the  blood  of  civil  war.  It  cannot  es 
cape  observation,  that,  notwithstanding  the  large  majority  of 
the  people  of  Maryland  are  now,  and  ever  have  been,  true  and 
faithful  to  the  Union,  and  averse  to  every  design  to  drag  them 
into  this  ruinous  career  of  revolution,  there  is  an  active,  intel 
ligent  and  ardent  minority  in  the  State  who  are  bent  upon  forc 
ing  her  into  the  Southern  Confederacy  ;  and  that  although 
this  secession  party,  now  accidentally  in  possession  of  the  leg 
islative  power,  finds  itself  compelled  to  succumb  to  the  force 
gathering  around  it  and  to  temporize  with  the  difficulties  it  can 
not  surmount,  it  still  cherishes  the  purpose  of  future  control, 
and  only  lies  at  lurch  waiting  the  events  of  the  day,  to  make  a 
new  effort  to  array  the  State  against  the  Government. 

In  this  condition  of  things,  it  is  of  the  profoundest  moment 
that  we  should  invoke  the  good  sense  of  every  patriotic  citizen 
in  our  Commonwealth  to  look  the  danger  around  us  in  the 
face,  and  before  it  is  too  late,  to  make  a  united  effort  to  recall 
our  excited  brothers  to  an  honest  and  sober  consideration  of 
our  destiny.  The  men  of  Maryland,  of  all  parties,  are  too 
earnest,  too  faithful  to  their  duty  to  themselves  and  the  com 
munity  in  which  they  live,  too  honorable,  frank  and  just,  know 
ingly  to  perpetrate  a  wrong  against  the  prosperity  and  happi- 


THE    GREAT    DRAMA.  591 

n-ess  of  their  own  homes  and  kindred — their  children  and  their 
friends  We  accord  the  fullest  honesty  of  intention  even  to  the 
rashest  and  most  thoughtless  of  those  who  are  endeavoring  to 
cast  our  lot  upon  the  path  of  disunion.  We  believe  them  sin 
cere  in  thinking  that  the  honor  and  the  welfare  of  the  State  de 
mand  that  we  should  follow  the  lead  of  the  bold  spirits  of  the 
South  who  have  plunged  the  country  into  this  commotion. 
Our  ingenuous  and  excitable  youth  have  yielded  to  what  we  re 
gard  as  but  a  natural  impulse,  when  they  bravely  rushed  to 
arms  to  resent  what  they  were  taught  to  think  an  invasion  of 
our  rights.  In  doing  this,  they  have  only  demonstrated  a  no 
ble  and  mistaken  ardor  proper  to  their  age  and  temper,  and 
which  now  but  wants  a  good  cause  to  win  all  the  applause  to 
which  they  aspire.  They  prove  to  us  how  much  we  may  de 
pend  upon  their  manhood  when  the  country  really  requires 
their  arm.  But  they,  like  many  of  their  elders,  are  acting  un 
der  a  delusion. 

Maryland  has  no  cause  to  desert  our  honored  Stars  and 
Stripes.  Out  of  this  Union,  there  is  nothing  but  ruin  for  her. 
In  the  Union,  dark  as  may  be  the  present  day,  the  stout  re 
solve  of  Maryland  to  maintain  her  fealty  to  the  faith  of  her 
fathers,  will  secure  to  her  yet  a  glorious  future. 

Let  us  not  fall  into  the  fatal  error  of  thinking  that  the  great 
interests  of  the  Union  are  irretrievably  lost  by  the  election  of 
an  Administration  we  do  not  like.  At  the  worst  the  present 
predominance  of  a  sectional  party  in  the  National  Government 
is  but  a  transient  evil.  We  shall  never  have  another  but 
through  the  ignoble  surrender  of  the  loyal  men  of  the  South. 
Even  indeed  now,  the  perpetuation  of  such  a  party  is  an  im 
possibility  in  the  North.  The  excitement  and  storm  of  this 
day — if  it  has,  for  a  season,  unseated  the  prosperity  of  the  na 
tion — is  worth  all  its  privations,  in  the  good  it  has  already  ac 
complished.  It  has  forever  put  an  end  to  that  pestilent  agita 
tion  of  slavery  which,  for  thirty  years,  has  disturbed  the  repose 
of  the  country  ;  it  has  forever  put  an  end  to  sectional  Presi 
dents  and  parties  ;  it  has  revealed  a  great  truth  to  this  nation 


592  POLITICAL    PAPERS. 

— that  the  Union  is  above  all  party,  and  that  peaceful  brother 
hood  is  the  most  beneficent  of  all  our  blessings. 

Let  us  bring  our  minds  to  a  calm  estimate  of  our  own  duty 
in  this  great  crisis.  There  is  but  one  issue  before  us,  Union 
or  Disunion.  Every  man  in  Maryland  must  meet  that  issue. 

Union,  on  the  one  side,  is  loyalty,  faith  in  the  traditions  of 
our  ancestors,  devotion  to  our  historical  renown,  brave  sup 
port  of  our  country  in  its  adversity. 

Disunion — let  us  not  evade  the  conclusion — is  rebellion, 
desertion  of  our  duty,  dishonor  to  our  flag  ;  voluntary  dis 
grace  cast  upon  the  names  of  the  heroes  and  sages  who  have 
made  our  country  illustrious  in  human  annals.  It  is  prompt 
ed  by  the  assertion  of  a  principle  of  anarchy  which  makes 
all  government  impossible ;  a  false  dogma  which  affirms 
a  right  of  disintegration  that  may  pervade  every  division  of 
society. 

This  assumed  right  of  secession  is  scouted  by  the  judgment 
of  the  world.  No  jurist,  no  statesman,  no  man  of  honest  judg 
ment  ever  affirmed  it  until,  in  these  later  days,  it  was  found  to 
be  the  convenient  pretext  for  a  party  design.  Every  Presi 
dent  who  has  heard  it  uttered,  every  Cabinet,  every  State, 
every  party,  at  one  period  or  another  of  their  progress,  has 
disowned  it.  If  Washington  or  Jackson  were  alive  they  would 
account  it  only  as  rank  rebellion  and  would  so  treat  it. 

We  may  not  shelter  ourselves  under  the  plea  of  revolution. 
Maryland  has  no  cause  for  revolution.  No  man  in  Maryland 
can  lay  his  hand  upon  his  heart  and  say  that  this  Government 
of  ours  has  ever  done  him  wrong ;  has  ever  stinted  its  bounty 
to  him  in  the  full  enjoyment  of  his  life,  liberty  and  pursuit  of 
happiness.  We  cannot  answer  to  God  or  man,  therefore,  for 
plunging  into  the  great  crime  of  rebellion  and  treason.  Our 
honor,  our  faith,  our  religion  will  rise  up  in  judgment  against 
us,  to  convict  us  of  the  greatest  wickedness  man  can  commit, 
if,  on  such  a  pretence,  we  lifted  a  bloody  hand  against  the 
blessed  parent  of  our  political  life.  Is  loyalty  nothing?  Sub 
mission  to  law  nothing  ?  Fidelity  to  duty  nothing  ?  Gentle- 


TTTE    GREAT   DRAMA.  593 

men  of  Maryland,  do  these  things  no  longer  touch  your  honor  ? 
Will  you  listen  to  the  sordid  arguments  of  gain,  to  the  mean 
persuasions  of  interest,  to  the  fear  of  danger,  to  the  wretched 
slanders  of  fanatics,  to  the  dread  of  that  vulgar  obloquy  which 
brands  you  with  the  name  of  "  Submissionists,"  to  seduce  you 
from  your  allegiance  to  the  government  you  have  inherited 
from  brave  ancestors  ?  Has  the  cavalier  blood  become  so  di 
luted  in  your  veins  that  you  can  for  such  motives  abandon 
your  country  in  her  distress  ?  We  mistake  you,  and  have  long 
misunderstood  you,  if  that  be  the  spirit  in  which  you  meet  the 
crisis.  No,  no.  Stand  by  your  ancient  flag. — Be  true  to  Ma 
ryland  and  keep  her  where  your  fathers  placed  her,  and  when 
the  time  comes  redeem  your  country. 

For  what  does  Secession  now  rear  a  mutilated  banner  ? 

For  what  cause  does  it  invite  us  to  take  up  arms  ? 

We  hear  different  answers  to  these  questions. 
•  Some,  who  think  a  sectional  patriotism  to  be  their  greatest 
duty,  answer,  k'*  For  Southern  Rights." 

Others,  who  think  worldly  profit  a  higher  motive,  say, "  For 
Southern  trade." 

Others  again,  who  seem  to  be  swayed  by  a  kind  of  fatalism, 
say,  "  We  have  no  choice — we  must  go  as  Virginia  goes." 

We  have  not  yet  heard  the  first  man  on  that  side  say  any 
thing  about  Maryland  rights,  Maryland  honor,  or  Maryland  inde 
pendence. 

Is  it  not  strange  that  they  forget  Maryland  has  any  duty  to 
perform  to  herself  and  for  herself? 

Let  us  weigh  these  answers. 

What  are  Southern  rights  ?  Everybody  speaks  of  them, 
nobody  defines  them.  So  vague,  so  misty,  so  variable,  they 
escape  every  attempt  to  grasp  them. 

Do  they  comprise,  as  a  chief  demand — as  many  say  they  do 
— the  right  to  maintain  the  institution  of  slavery  unmolested 
and  unimpaired  in  the  States  that  possess  it  ? 

If  so,  no  one  now  disputes  that  right.  It  is  affirmed  and  of 
fered  to  be  made  perpetual,  even  by  the  late  Republican  Con- 


594  POLITICAL    PAPERS. 

gress,  by  the  enactment  of  an  irrepealable  amendment  to  the 
Constitution,  which  guarantees  it  forever. 

Do  they  assert  the  right  to  take  slaves  into  all  territory  of 
the  United  States  south  of  the  Missouri  line,  as  proposed  by 
the  Crittenden  resolutions  ? 

If  that  be  the  demand,  that  right  now  exists  to  its  fullest 
extent,  and  slavery  is  at  this  day  by  law  protected  in  every  foot 
of  territory  south  of  36.30  ;  and  even  the  three  new  territories 
north  of  that  line  are  open  to  the  admission  of  slaves  without 
restriction. 

Do  they  mean  the  right  to  recover  fugitive  slaves  from  the 
Free  States  ? 

If  so,  all  impediment  to  that  right  is  virtually  withdrawn. 
The  administration  affirms  a  purpose  to  execute  the  law,  and, 
in  point  of  fact,  the  law  is  now  executed  with  more  efficiency 
and  less  obstruction  than  it  has  been  for  thirty  years  past. 

Are  these  the  Southern  rights  for  which  we  are  invited  to 
get  up  revolution  and  war,  and  will  war  be  likely  to  secure  them 
in  more  full  enjoyment  than  we  have  them  now  ? 

Are  there  any  other  Southern  rights  in  dispute  ?  We  hear 
sometimes  of  a  right  to  free  trade  and  direct  taxation  ;  a  right  to 
traffic  in  African  slaves ;  a  right  to  Cuba,  to  Mexico,  to  Cen 
tral  America.  Is  Maryland  willing  to  fight  for  these? 

Then  as  to  "  Southern  trade,"  which  has  captivated  the 
imagination  of  some  who  have  fallen  into  the  Secession 
ranks. 

There  are  many  variant  and  contradictor}7  notions  on  this 
point.  Carolina  hopes  to  make  a  New  York  of  Charleston, 
Georgia  claims  this  bounty  for  Savannah,  Virginia  demands  it 
for  Norfolk,  Louisiana  pleases  her  fancy  with  the  miraculous 
growth  of  New  Orleans.  The  visionaries  of  Maryland  quietly 
smile  at  all  these  delusions,  perfectly  confident  that  the  cornu 
copia  is  to  be  emptied  upon  Baltimore. 

We  say  nothing  of  the  heart-burnings  and  jealousies  which 
these  various  hopes  must  engender  if  any  one  of  these  dreams 
are  realized  to  the  disappointment  of  the  others.  We  are 


THE    GEEAT   DRAMA.  595 

only  concerned  to  look  at  the  probable  result  upon  Mary 
land. 

This  supposed  commercial  advantage  is  founded  upon  the 
idea,  much  commended  in  the  South,  of  free  trade  with  all  the 
foreign  world,  and  heavy  restrictions  upon  the  trade  with  the 
United  States;  a  system  of  commerce  built  upon  compla 
cency  on  one  side  and  revenge  on  the  other.  The  Southern 
Confederacy,  it  is  presumed,  will,  in  the  future  permanent  ar 
rangement  of  its  policy,  encumber  one-half  of  its  trade — and 
that  its  most  indispensable  and  necessary  supply — with  heavy 
duties,  and  leave  the  other  half,  which  chiefly  concerns  its  lux 
uries,  free.  Does  any  experienced  merchant  believe  this? 
What  will  the  South  gain  by  laying  duties  upon  the  thousand 
productions  of  the  North  that  now  enter  so  largely  into  their 
common  household  and  agricultural  wants?  Will  they  get 
their  farming  implements,  their  machinery,  their  wooden  ware, 
their  fish,  their  beef,  their  hay,  their  ice,  their  carriages,  shoes, 
hats,  and  clothing — any  part  of  their  whole  inventory  of  family 
requisitions — more  cheaply  for  that  ?  No  other  country  can 
supply  them  so  well,  and  the  experiment  will  soon  prove  that 
every  cent  of  tax  so  levied  is  but  a  charge  upon  themselves. 
When  that  is  proved,  and  the  passion  of  the  day  subsides,  it  is 
reasoning  against  all  the  motives  of  human  conduct  to  suppose 
that  a  merely  vindictive  restriction  will  be  allowed  to  exist. 
The  North  would  soon  grow  to  be  in  the  same  category  to  the 
South  with  all  the  rest  of  the  world — in  war,  enemies,  in  peace, 
friends ;  and  the  free-trade  system,  if  practicable  at  all,  will  be  ex 
tended  equally  to  all  within  the  range  of  Southern  commerce. 

There  are  some  who  think  these  discriminations  will  be 
made  with  a  view  to  the  establishment  of  large  manufacturing 
interests  in  the  South.  But  to  this  there  is  the  obvious  reply, 
that  no  manufacturing  system  ever  was  built  up  in  companion 
ship  with  free  trade ;  and  the  Southern  Constitution  has  al 
ready  put  a  veto  upon  the  attempt  by  a  specific  prohibition  of 
all  power  to  protect  any  domestic,  industry. 

The  Northern  manufactures  are  sufficiently  established  and 


596  POLITICAL    PAPEKS. 

prosperous  to  compete  with  the  world  in  free  trade,  and  they 
will  always  continue  to  find  a  Southern  market  from  their  ex 
act  adaptation  to  Southern  wants.  But  the  manufactures  of 
Maryland,  in  great  part,  are  precisely  those  which  would  with 
er  and  perish  under  the  free-trade  policy.  We  could  supply 
no  iron  from  our  mines,  no  iron  fabrics  from  our  workshops. 
Our  great  steam  enginery,  our  railroad  apparatus,  our  heavy 
works  of  the  foundry,  our  cast  and  rolled  metal,  could  never 
hold  their  own  in  the  presence  of  free  impoitations  from  Eng 
land.  It  will  occur  to  any  one  conversant  with  our  workshops, 
that  much  of  our  most  important  industry  here  in  Baltimore,  and 
throughout  the  State,  would  be  compelled  to  yield  under  the 
pressure  of  European  rivalry. 

Again,  free  trade  implies  direct  taxation  to  raise  revenue 
for  the  support  of  government.  A  glance  at  this  will  sup 
ply  another  element  for  the  consideration  of  those  who  fancy 
that  Maryland  is  to  prosper  in  a  Southern  Confederacy. 

The  expenses  of  the  new  government  are  inevitably  to  be 
cast  upon  a  higher  estimate  than  we  have  ever  witnessed  in 
our  heretofore  harmonious  Union.  Large  armies  and  navies 
are  to  be  provided  as  the  necessary  apparatus  of  government. 
Fifty  millions  a  year  will  not  be  an  unfamiliar  experience  to 
the  Southern  financier.  If  that  amount  is  to  be  levied  upon 
some  nine  million  of  free  population,  which  about  represent 
the  present  number  of  the  whole  of  the  Southern  States,  it  af 
fords  a  ratio  of  more  than  five  dollars  a  head.  If  but  thirty 
millions  be  the  expenditure,  it  will  be  over  three  dollars  a  head. 
Maryland  contains  near  six  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  free 
persons,  and  thus  we  estimate  her  annual  share  of  the  tax  at 
over  three  millions  per  annum,  on  a  fifty  million  expenditure, 
and  on  the  supposition  of  thirty  millions,  something  near  two 
millions  per  annum.  Our  present  State  tax  is  about  two  hun 
dred  and  fifty  thousand  dollars.  The  addition  to  this,  for  the 
support  of  the  Confederate  Government,  will,  on  the  first  sup 
posed  rate  of  expenditure,  be  twelve,  on  the  other,  eight  times 
the  present  tax.  I  give  these  figures  as  a  formula  of  calcula- 


THE    GREAT   DRAMA.  597 

tion  which  any  one  may  apply  to  his  own  estimate  of  the  prob 
able  expenditure  of  the  new  government,  if  its  revenues  are  to 
be  supplied  by  direct  taxation. 

How  the  trade  and  industry  of  Maryland  may  reconcile 
themselves  to  such  a  system,  I  leave  those  to  judge  who  are 
best  acquainted  with  the  tax  bills  our  present  necessities  im 
pose  upon  us. 

Ii"  it  should  be  discovered,  as  I  have  no  doubt  it  will  be 
after  some  sore  and  short  experience,  that  this  free-trade  fancy 
is  but  an  expensive  delusion,  and  that  the  old,  long  tried,  uni 
versal  and  inevitable  system  of  duties,  known  to  and  practised 
by  all  nations,  as  the  most  commendable  system  of  national 
support,  must  be  substituted  by  the  Confederate  States,  what 
then  will  be  the  condition  of  their  commerce  ?  It  will  then  be 
found  that  the  revolution  has  been  a  vain  work.  The  bubble 
will  have  burst,  and  the  experimenters,  after  having  turned  the 
whole  nation  back  a  quarter  of  a  century  in  its  career — having 
ruined  a  generation,  subverted  more  capital  than  would  suffice 
to  purchase  every  slave  in  the  nation,  accumulated  a  debt  im 
possible  to  be  paid,  and  spread  repudiation  and  bankruptcy 
over  a  whole  circle  of  States — happy,  if  to  these  evils  it  has  not 
added  the  clothing  of  every  household  in  mourning — the  ex 
perimenters  will  then  find  themselves  vainly  endeavoring  to 
restore  trade  to  the  same  relations  and  arrangement  in  which 
it  was  at  the  fatal  moment  when  they  initiated  their  new  ca 
reer.  All  that  will  then  have  been  achieved  will  be  the  crea 
tion  of  a  double  set  of  political  dignitaries,  and  the  distribution 
of  a  double  supply  of  loaves  and  fishes  to  the  patriots  of  the 
ferment. 

A  tariff  of  duties  for  revenue  once  adopted,  it  then  be 
comes  the  plain  policy  of  the  United  States  of  the  old  Confed 
eracy  to  enact  the  same  rates,  and  commerce  will  immediate 
ly  oscillate  back  to  the  track  and  custom  of  its  old  career. 

Even  if  it  should  not  be  drawn  again  into  that  current, 
what  has  Baltimore  to  hope  for?  Will  she  import  for  the 
South,  from  the  head  of  the  Chesapeake,  while  Norfolk  lies  on 


598  POLITICAL    PAPERS. 

the  margin  of  the  sea  at  its  mouth,  with  an  admirable  harbor, 
and  with  all  the  means  of  Western  and  Southern  distribution 
by  railroads  that  penetrate  to  the  Mississippi  and  Ohio  ?  Do 
old  and  sagacious  merchants  of  Baltimore  allow  this  delusion 
to  seize  their  minds  ?  Boys  may  prate  about  such  things,  but 
surely  men  of  sense  will  repeat  no  such  absurdity.  But,  we 
have  heard  it  said,  if  Maryland  be  not  a  member  of  the  South 
ern  Confederacy,  Virginia,  in  time  of  war,  may  close  all  access 
to  the  Chesapeake  against  us.  That  is  true.  But  if  Mary 
land  should  be  a  member  of  that  Confederacy,  then  the  North, 
in  time  of  war,  may  also  shut  up  the  Chesapeake  against  us  ; 
and  not  only  that,  but  may  also  shut  up  our  Western  and 
Northern  Railroads.  It  may  deny  us  the  Ohio  river  j  it  may 
deny  us  access  to  Philadelphia,  to  New  York — utterly  obliter 
ate  not  only  our  trade,  but  cut  off  our  provisions.  In  the  other 
case,  Virginia  could  not  do  that,  nor  even  impede  our  transit 
on  the  Baltimore  and  Ohio  Railroad,  as  long  as  Western  Vir 
ginia  shall  stand  our  friend,  as  assuredly  it  will  if  we  are  true 
to  ourselves. 

The  last  argument  popularly  used  in  favor  of  the  secessi  )n 
of  Maryland,  is  that  which  asserts  a  necessity  that  compels  us 
"to  go  as  Virginia  goes." 

It  is  supposed  that  the  recent  attempted  secession  of  Vir 
ginia  leaves  us  no  choice.  It  is  declared  that  our  sympathies 
as  well  as  our  interests  are  with  Virginia ;  in  fact,  that  our 
fate  is  in  her  hands.  If  this  were  true,  it  would  have  been 
but  a  becoming  decorum  in  Virginia  to  have  invited  us  into 
her  counsels,  or  at  least,  to  have  warned  us  of  the  complica 
tions  she  was  preparing  for  us.  As  it  is,  she  has  led  us  blind 
fold  to  the  verge  of  the  precipice,  and  those  of  our  own  fellow- 
citizens  who  renounce  for  us  all  freedom  of  opinion  on  our 
own  destiny,  tell  us  we  have  no  choice  but  to  take  the  leap. 

We  deny  that  Maryland  is  so  bound  up  in  the  fortunes  of 
Virginia.  We  regard  the  interest  of  that  State  to  be  quite  as 
dependent  upon  the  favor  of  Maryland  as  Maryland  is  upon 
her.  In  all  that  denotes  vigor,  growth  of  power,  and  capacity 


THE   GREAT   DKAMA.  599 

for  great  enterprise,  Maryland  is  ahead  of  Virginia.  While 
our  population  in  the  last  decade  has  increased  twenty-five 
per  cent,  that  of  Virginia  has  not  advanced  over  twelve. 
What  we  have  accomplished  in  public  works  and  in  the  ex 
tension  of  commercial  activity  bears  a  still  more  favorable 
comparison  in  the  estimate  of  the  resources  of  the  two  States. 
Let  us  not  so  derogate  from  the  influence  and  capability  of 
our  own  State  as  to  surrender  our  independence  to  the  con 
trol  of  politicians  who  have  as  yet  shown  so  little  capacity  in 
governing  their  own.  In  truth,  we  might,  with  good  reason, 
reverse  the  affirmation  of  the  argument  we  are  considering, 
and  say  that  Virginia  should  look  to  Maryland,  and  should 
adapt  her  policy,  on  this  question  of  separation,  to  ours.  She 
should  at  least  consult  the  other  Border  States,  Kentucky, 
Tennessee,  Missouri,  as  well  as  Maryland,  and  shape  her 
course  in  conformity  with  their  common  views. 

When  we  speak  of  Virginia,  there  is  another  most  signifi 
cant  question  to  be  considered.  To  what  portion  of  Virginia 
are  we  to  attach  our  fortunes  ?  Is  it  to  that  waning  Eastern 
section  which  at  present  holds  the  political  power  over  the 
State — that  section  whose  population,  scattered  over  the  re 
gion  visited  by  the  tide,  is  gradually  declining  in  numbers  and 
losing  its  ascendancy  in  the  public  affairs,  and  whose  power 
at  this  day  is  founded  rather  upon  the  traditions  of  the  past 
than  upon  any  inherent  capacity  to  govern  ?  or  is  it  to  that 
vigorous  and  healthful  Western  Virginia  upon  whom  nature 
has  lavished  her  bounty  in  the  provision  of  all  the  elements 
of  a  prosperous  and  powerful  community  ? 

Virginia  is  divided  into  two  distinct  sections,  altogether 
different  in  physical  quality  and  in  moral  character.  The  one 
teems  with  a  redundant  slave  population  of  which  the  excess 
is  kept  down  by  a  continual  drain  of  emigration  to  the  South. 
Its  habits  are  Southern,  its  affinities  are  for  the  South.  These 
are  not  less  nourished  by  the  character  of  its  labor  than  by 
the  temper  of  its  leading  men — talented  and  impulsive  and 
educated  in  strong  sympathy  with  the  Secession  States. 


600  POLITICAL    PAPERS. 

The  other  division  includes  the  land  of  the  mountaineer — • 
a  land  of  mineral  wealth,  of  rapid  streams,  of  fertile  pastures, 
of  bracing  atmosphere,  where  the  people  have  little  dependence 
on  slave  labor,  and  who  see  in  the  resources  of  the  soil  and 
climate  an  invitation  to  all  the  varied  industry  of  populous  and 
thriving  States. 

We  of  Maryland  are  solicited  to  associate  ourselves  with 
the  first  of  these  divisions.  It  is  said  our  natural  relationship 
is  with  them. 

We  certainly  have  had  abundant  reason  in  the  past  to 
know  that  the  governing  power  of  Virginia  does  not  reciprocate 
the  favor  of  this  relationship.  Maryland  has  no  more  persistent 
and  steady  antagonism  to  her  policy  to  contend  against  than 
she  has  ever  found  in  the  domination  of  this  low  country  influ 
ence.  Let  those  who  have  had  the  management  of  our  public 
works,  our  railroad  and  canal,  say  what  difficulties  they  have 
had  to  encounter  in  the  hostility  of  Virginia  to  the  grant  of  the 
smallest  privilege  or  aid  from  that  State  ;  and  let  them  describe 
how  all  solicitations  have  been  refused  until  the  friendly  inter 
cession  of  the  Western  counties,  often  baffled,  has  at  last  by 
peremptory  demand  secured  us  the  grace  of  being  permitted  to 
expend  millions  of  Maryland  capital  upon  Virginia  soil. 

The  true  friends  and  allies  of  our  policy  are  in  the  West. 
At  this  moment  that  region  is  making  its  protest  against  seces 
sion.  It  is  a  matter  of  the  deepest  moment  that  we  should 
wisely  appreciate  this  fact.  It  is  not  for  us  now  to  discuss  the 
probable  contingencies  of  the  future  which  may  spring  out  of 
the  state  of  opinion  in  the  Western  counties,  but  we  should  not 
blindly  adopt  a  policy  in  the  present  juncture  which  may  for 
ever  alienate  them  from  the  interest  which  makes  them  the 
guardians  and  protectors  of  our  road  and  the  ministers  to  our 
tracte. 

The  singular  change  of  opinion  which  has  recently  brought 
Virginia  into  secession  is  one  of  the  inexplicable  things  of  the 
day.  Time  may  perhaps  prove  it  to  be  a  forced  assent  obtain 
ed  by  the  arts  which  have,  everywhere  in  the  seceding  States, 


THE   GREAT   DRAMA.  601 

more  or  less  subdued  and  coerced  public  opinion.  At  present 
the  world  can  only  perceive  that  "  the  Mother  of  States,"  in 
spite  of  her  protestations  of  independence,  in  spite  of  the  con 
tumely  and  insult  heaped  upon  her,  has  succumbed  to  the  dic 
tation  of  Carolina — has  been  "  dragged"  into  revolution  and 
compelled  to  an  act  of  submission,  by  which  she  has  surren 
dered  her  lofty  position  as  a  mediator  in  the  national  quarrel 
and  sunk  into  a  secondary  power  in  the  new  Confederacy.  She 
is  the  first  of  the  Border  States  that  has  given  way.  Let  Ma 
ryland  be  the  last  to  follow  her  example. 

We  cannot  forget  that  the  Southern  Confederacy  has  hither 
to  repudiated  all  connection  with  the  Border  States ;  that  they 
were  contemptously  repelled  as  unworthy  of  consultation.  It 
is  only  now,  when  a  severe  experience  has  demonstrated  the 
necessity  of  friends  able  both  to  pay  and  fight,  that  these  States 
are  approached  with  flattering  appeals  to  take  a  stand  in  the 
very  front  of  war  and  bear  the  brunt  of  its  worst  assaults.  We 
who  never  felt  or  professed  any  respect  for  their  cause,  who,  in 
deed,  accuse  them  of  having  produced  all  the  difficulties  and 
disgraces  which  have  resulted  from  the  recent  Presidential 
election,  are  now  counselled  to  patient  submission  to  this  co 
ercion,  and  even  to  embrace  it  with  thankful  avidity  as  an  hon 
orable  duty.  Virginia  has  placed  herself  at  the  head  of  the 
Submissionists,  and  men  whom  we  have  esteemed,  here  in 
Maryland,  for  their  manhood,  tell  us  we  have  no  choice  but  to 
follow  her  example  ! 

I  draw  this  view  of  our  condition  to  a  close  by  repeating 
my  clear  conviction  that  the  interests  and  safety  of  Maryland 
coincide  with  her  loyalty  to  the  Union,  that  disunion  is  ruin  to 
her. 

Let  us  not  be  moved  by  the  taunt  that  we  are  aiding  the 
Republican  cause  and  vindicating  the  administration  of  Mr. 
Lincoln.  That  is  but  the  party  vituperation  of  those  who  seek 
to  frighten  us  by  false  clamor  into  an  abandonment  of  our  op 
position  to  their  own  party  schemes.  We  deplore  the  unfortu 
nate  ascendancy  of  the  Republican  party  ;  we  censure  the  pol- 
26 


002  POLITICAL    PAPERS. 

icy  of  the  Administration.  We  may  claim  much  more  respect 
for  our  sincerity  in  this  than  our  opponents  are  entitled  to  ask, 
since  it  is  only  by  their  machinations  that  the  Republican  par 
ty  has  won  its  ascendancy,  and  by  their  desertion  of  their 
posts  and  their  duty  in  Congress,  that  Mr.  Lincoln's  adminis 
tration  has  obtained  any  power  to  involve  the  country  in  the 
present  commotion.  In  the  stage  at  which  the  public  embar 
rassments  have  now  arrived,  all  the  questions  of  the  late  can 
vass  have  disappeared.  The  country  is  aroused  to  the  protec 
tion  of  the  Union,  to  the  defence  of  our  system  of  government. 
The  men  who  were  most  earnest  in  opposing  the  election  of 
Mr.  Lincoln  throughout  the  whole  North  and  West  are  united 
into  a  compact  body,  in  a  unanimous  determination  to  vindi 
cate  the  right  of  the  people  to  the  Union  bequeathed  to  them 
by  their  fathers.  Large  numbers  in  the  South,  whose  voices 
are  suppressed  by  the  despotism  of  party  rule,  have  the  same 
sentiment  deeply  impressed  upon  their  hearts.  The  conserva 
tive  Northern  men  who  have  come  so  sternly  and  with  such 
alacrity  to  this  duty  of  defence — a  majority  of  the  Northern 
people — will  visit  with  indignant  disgust  the  fanatical  agitators 
of  the  slavery  question,  whose  wicked  pertinacity  has  raised 
this  storm  in  the  nation,  and  we  shall  hear  no  more  of  the 
wretched  cant  of  the  sin  of  slavery  in  the  South.  That  abuse 
of  the  peace  of  the  nation  will  be  purged  away  by  this  commo 
tion,  if  no  other  good  result  from  it. 

On  one  side  of  us  is  a  united  nation  of  nineteen  millions  of 
people.  On  the  other,  a  divided  population  of  nine  millions. 
We  stand  between  them.  If  we  remain  true  to  the  Union,  we 
shall  have  protection  and  peace,  and  hereafter  an  easy  settle 
ment  of  all  our  complaints.  If  we  desert  the  Union,  we  shall 
be  driven  into  a  confederacy  which  has  but  little  sympathy 
with  our  interests,  and  less  power  to  protect  us  against  the 
ravage  of  the  frequent  wars  which  must  inevitably  arise  be 
tween  the  two  sections. 

The  Southern  Confederacy  is  essentially  weak  in  the  basis 
of  its  construction.  It  is  founded  on  a  principle  which  must 


THE    GREAT    DRAMA.  603 

lead  to  the  ever-recurring  dangers  of  new  secessions  and  the 
exhibition  of  a  worse  than  Mexican  anarchy.  It  may  witness 
pronunaamentoes  upon  every  discontent,  and  the  strife  of  par 
ties  ending  in  further  disintegration.  If  the  Border  States  go 
into  that  Confederacy,  the  opposition  of  material  interests  will 
soon  develop  the  utter  want  of  capacity  in  the  new  government 
to  secure  its  cohesion. 

Maryland,  under  any  circumstances  of  peace  or  war,  must 
soon  become  a  Free  State,  and  she  will  then  be  found  to  be 
wholly  ungenial  to  the  principle  upon  which  the  Southern  Con 
federacy  is  established.  It  would,  therefore,  not  be  long  be 
fore  she  would  be  compelled  to  retire  from  the  alliance  and 
become  a  suppliant  for  shelter  under  the  wing  of  that  old 
Union  which  in  a  rash  moment  she  had  abandoned. 

If  she  remain  where  she  is,  her  example  may  influence  the 
course  of  the  other  Border  States  which  now  are  drawn  to  the 
verge  of  secession,  and  with  them  may  happily  bring  about  a 
restoration  of  the  whole  Union.  Four  years  hence,  this  Ad 
ministration  will  give  place  to  another.  A  popular,  conserva 
tive  President  then  elected  will  restore  confidence  to  the  whole 
country.  The  Union  sentiment  of  the  South  will  make  itself 
heard  in  the  remotest  sections  of  the  secession,  and  disen 
thralled  from  the  domination  that  now  forbids  it  to  speak,  it  will 
once  more  assert  its  attachment  to  the  Stars  and  Stripes. 

Let  the  true  voice  of  our  State  now  be  heard  on  these  ques 
tions.  The  Legislature  now  in  session  has  one  solemn  duty 
to  perform.  It  is  to  give  the  State  an  opportunity  to  declare 
its  wish.  Much  has  been  said  about  the  desire  of  Maryland  to 
fall  into  the  ranks  of  the  Seceding  States.  There  has  been  a 
great  clamor  for  a  Convention  by  those  who  have  been  anxious 
for  Secession.  Let  the  Legislature  now  put  the  question  to 
the  people — Do  you  want  a  Convention,  with  power  to  de 
clare  Maryland  out  of  the  Union  ? 

Put  that  question,  and  we  shall  then  know  what  part  Mary 
land  will  take  in  the  Great  Drama. 

BALTIMORE,  May  9,  1861. 


604  POLITICAL    PAPERS. 


LETTEK  ON  THE  ANNEXATION  OF  TEXAS. 

TO    A    CITIZEN    OF    BALTIMORE. 

HOUSE  OF  REPRESENTATIVES,  May  15,  1844. 
T^VEAR  SIR  :  You  are  right  in  supposing  that  I  am  not  in- 
J-'  clined  to  favor  the  proposition  for  the  annexation  of  Tex 
as.  I  have  just  seen  the  resolutions  which  were  adopted  by 
the  meeting  on  Monday  evening  of  those  who  call  themselves 
the  Democracy  of  Baltimore.  One  of  the  resolutions  relates  to 
this  subject : 

"  That  this  meeting  considers  the  re-annexation  of  Texas  to 
the  United  States,  of  which  it  was  rightfully  a  portion  previous 
to  the  improvident  cession  of  1819,  a  measure  indispensable  to 
our  security  against  foreign  aggression  in  that  quarter,  the  ex 
tension  of  the  domestic  commercial  exchanges  of  our  country, 
and  the  securing  the  blessings  of  Republican  Government  to  a 
people  allied  to  us  in  blood  and  political  sympathy  ;  and  that 
we  shall  hail  the  day  when  her  now  solitary  star  shall  blend  in 
harmonious  order  with  the  constellation  that  blazes  on  the 
American  flag." 

This  resolution,  in  common  with  the  others,  the  Republican 
informs  us,  was  adopted  by  "acclamation." 

Notwithstanding  this  acclamation,  I  venture  to  say  the  sen 
timent  is  not  the  sentiment  of  our  State. 

Maryland  has  very  strong  reason  to  oppose  the  annexation. 
We  have  been  sufficiently  drained  of  valuable  portions  of  our 
population  already,  by  the  opening  of  new  States,  to  teach  us 
the  duty  of  resisting  this  effort  to  incorporate  Texas  with  the 
Union. 


THE   ANNEXATION    OF    TEXAS.  605 

Up  to  the  present  day,  however,  we  have  felt,  in  the  won 
derful  growth  and  prosperity  of  the  West,  and  in  the  strength 
and  grandeur  which  that  region  has  given  to  our  Republic,  too 
many  incentives  to  patriotic  pride  not  to  acknowledge  that  it 
would  be  selfish  in  "  the  old  thirteen  "  to  complain  of  that  glo 
rious  march  of  civilization  which  began  and  moved  forth  from 
our  borders.  But,  surely,  we  may  be  content  now  with  the 
limits  of  our  present  Confederacy,  and  be  excused  for  desiring 
to  pause  in  the  career  of  territorial  acquisition.  The  next 
half  century  may  find  useful  occupation  in  filling  up  the  space 
which  we  have  acquired,  and  in  turning  to  its  appropriate  uses 
that  vast  domain  which  we  have  laid  off  for  future  settlement 
and  habitation. 

Maryland  has  paid  her  full  tribute  to  this  great  enterprise. 
To  say  nothing  of  her  gallant  effusion  of  blood  and  treasure  in 
the  war  of  the  Revolution,  by  which  this  imperial  domain  was 
won  from  the  British  Crown — nothing  of  her  cheerful  acquies 
cence  in  the  allotment  of  large  sections  of  that  domain  to  the 
local  benefit  and  special  use  of  the  Western  States,  and  her 
own  utter  exclusion  from  all  share  or  lot  in  that  rich  posses 
sion,  she  has  lost  incalculably  more  than  any  division  of  that 
domain  might  reimburse,  in  the  diminution  of  her  resources  by 
the  constant  flow  of  her  people  and  wealth  beyond  the  Allegha- 
riy.  Much  of  our  best  soil  untilled,  many  mines  unexplored, 
many  excellent  farms  abandoned,  the  whole  of  our  landed  prop 
erty  depreciated  in  value,  some  of  our  counties  not  only  be 
come  stationary,  but  actually  retrograde  in  population,  tax 
ation  increased,  and  the  capacity  to  bear  it  diminished  ;  these 
are  some  of  the  evidences  of  our  sacrifices  in  favor  of  the 
new  territories  of  the  Union — sacrifices  which  we  have  borne 
without  repining,  from  the  affectionate  interest  we  have 
taken  in  the  success  of  the  younger  States.  The  vigor  of 
these  States,  we  have  painfully  felt,  is  drawn  in  part  from  the 
life-blood  of  the  parent  stock.  I  think  we  may  be  approved 
and  seconded  now  for  desiring  to  see  some  concentration, 
some  consolidation,  at  least,  of  the  present  elements  of  this 


606  POLITICAL    PAPKIJS. 

Union,  before  we  set  out  anew  in  quest  of  more  extensive  ac 
quisitions. 

These  considerations,  apart  from  many  graver  objections, 
would  disincline  me  to  look  with  favor  upon  the  incorporation 
of  Texas  with  the  Union.  But  there  are  many  graver  objec 
tions. 

The  present  attempt  is  distinguished  by  incidents  which 
ought  to  raise  against  it  the  revolt  of  every  honorable  mind. 
It  has  begun  in  a  humiliating  intrigue,  on  the  part  of  our  Gov 
ernment,  to  persuade  Texas  to  permit,  if  not  to  solicit  this  alli 
ance  ;  and  the  people  of  that  country  have,  there  is  good  rea 
son  to  believe,  only  been  reconciled  to  this  act  of  condescen 
sion  by  systematic  misrepresentation  of  the  state  of  opinion 
here,  by  alternate  threat  and  entreaty,  and  by  the  lure  of  exor 
bitant  profit  to  be  conferred  by  our  act.  Among  these  misrep 
resentations  was  that  which  has  proved  so  notoriously  false,  im 
porting  that  two-thirds  of  the  Senate  were  ascertained  to  be  fa 
vorable  to  the  measure,  and  would  vote  to  sustain  it.  I  might 
refer  to  many  others,  but  the  whole  history  will  be  very  soon 
made  public. 

Towards  Mexico  this  proceeding  is  still  more  dishonorable. 
If  not  a  downright  act  of  perfidy,  it  is,  at  the  best,  a  flagrant 
violation  of  former  pledges  of  friendship  ;  an  offence  against 
the  law  of  nations  ;  a  positive  act  of  war  altogether  unworthy 
of  a  just  and  magnanimous  people.  It  has  the  air  of  vulgar 
domineering  over  one  supposed  to  be  inferior  in  prowess — a 
trespass  upon  the  feebleness  of  an  adversary  which  would  not 
be  attempted  against  one  who  had  the  power  to  resist  us.  In 
this  point  of  view,  nothing  could  be  more  repugnant  to  the 
proud  sensibility  and  genuine  American  spirit  of  our  people. 
It  will  be  spurned  by  them  as  a  stain  upon  their  courage,  no 
less  than  an  imputation  upon  their  honor. 

There  is  fraud  confessed  in  the  very  artifice  which  is  used 
to  recommend  the  measure  to  the  country.  Why  is  it  called 
the  RE-annexation  of  Texas  ?  This  term  is  employed  to  in 
duce  an  opinion  that  the  territory  equitably  belongs  to  us  now. 


Till:    AN.XKXATIOX    OK    TKXAS.  (507 

In  the  ethics  of  those  who  make  this  claim  we  are  to  under 
stand  that  whenever  the  United  States  has  a  contest  for  bound 
ary  with  a  neighbor,  and  that  boundary,  after  debate,  is  sol 
emnly  settled  by  treaty,  the  treaty  may  be  set  aside  at  pleasure, 
if  it  has  settled  the  question  in  dispute  by  the  relinquishment  of 
any  original  pretension.  In  short,  that  this  nation  can  never 
abate,  forego,  or  abandon  a  particle  of  any  claim  it  may  set  up, 
no  matter  how  extravagant,  how  much  or  how  reasonably  contest 
ed  :  that  we  may  take  all  equivalents  given  in  a  treaty,  and  re 
sume,  when  convenient,  all  that  we  have  parted  with.  The 
advocates  of  the  RE-annexation  say  that  a  Republic  like  ours 
has  no  power  to  part  with  territory,  and  that  as  we  once  claimed 
Texas,  the  treaty  which  relinquished  the  claim  is  void.  In  the 
next  breath  they  tell  us  that  the  Republic  of  Texas,  which  is 
modelled  after  ours,  may  not  only  part  with  a  portion  of  its  ter 
ritory,  but  may  cede  the  whole,  and  even  extinguish  its  own 
existence.  With  such  wretched  sophistry  as  this,  is  the  honor 
of  the  American  people  brought  into  question — the  good  re 
pute  of  our  country  tarnished  in  the  eye  of  mankind  ? 

Our  constitutional  power  to  admit  foreign  nations  into  this 
Union  seems  to  be  taken  for  granted.  This  is,  to  say  the 
least  of  it,  an  obvious  departure  from  the  doctrine  of  the  Jef- 
fersonian  school.  The  sage  of  Monticello  did  not  think  so. 
He  thought  it  clear  that  the  Constitution  forbade  the  purchase 
of  Louisiana,  and  he  therefore  recommended  an  amendment  to 
ratify  that  act.  The  opinions  of  Jefferson,  however,  are  of 
small  authority  in  his  own  school  when  they  stand  in  the  way 
of  a  party  purpose.  I  am  no  strict  constructionist,  as  that 
phrase  is  understood,  yet  I  cannot  but  marvel  at  the  easy  con 
sciences  of  gentlemen  of  that  sect  who  are  so  much  given  to 
talk  of  "the  compromises  of  the  Constitution,"  when  I  find 
them  so  clear  upon  the  question  of  this  power,  and  so  willing 
to  disturb  that  "balance"  which  they  have  represented  to  be 
— in  their  own  language — "  sacred  "  in  the  adjustment  of  the 
weight  of  the  free  and  slave  States.  Is  it  uncharitable  to  be 
lieve  that  they  are  reconciled  to  this  invasion  of  the  compro- 


608  POLITICAL    PAPERS. 

mises  of  the  Constitution,  in  the  present  instance,  because  they 
fancy  it  will  bring  the  beam  down  on  their  own  side  of  the  bal 
ance  ?  Where  does  this  power  to  annex  foreign  States  end  ? 
With  Texas  ?  What  of  Cuba,  St.  Domingo,  Canada  ?  Can  it 
reach  Ireland  ?  Or  is  it  confined,  as  we  might  infer  from  some 
of  the  declamation  on  the  subject,  to  the  enemies  only  of  the 
Anglo-Saxon  ?  It  has  a  broad  field  on  that  basis.  These  are 
significant  questions. 

I  do  not  doubt  that  two  nations  may  become  one,  when 
ever  it  may  suit  their  tastes  and  tempers  to  enter  into  such 
wedlock.  But  they  will  not  do  this  by  virtue  of  the  powers 
conferred  upon  their  respective  Governments  for  separate  ad 
ministration.  It  will  not  be  done  under  existing  Constitu 
tions.  Mr.  Walker  holds  that  this  right  of  self-extinction  is  a 
right  reserved  to  every  Government,  unless  expressly  forbidden 
by  its  Constitution.  Certainly,  this  is  a  very  odd  specimen  of 
strict  construction.  The  existing  administration  may  destroy 
the  Government  by  giving  the  whole  territory  away  in  a  treaty 
— unless  the  law  forbid  it.  That,  he  affirms,  will  be  the  basis 
of  our  title  to  Texas,  if  we  confirm  the  Treaty.  These  are 
new  views  of  government.  I  can  see  but  one  way  to  accom 
plish  this  object.  When  the  general  wish  of  the  PEOPLE — not 
the  Government — of  the  United  States  and  of  Texas  is  to  form  a 
new  Confederacy,  they  will  be  obliged  to  alter  their  organic 
law  to  suit  the  case  ;  they  will  then  have  occasion  to  make  a 
new  Constitution,  or  amend  the  old  one.  The  new  Union 
must  provide  Constitution  and  law  for  itself. 

I  think  I  discern,  from  some  manifestations  I  have  seen,  at 
the  bottom  of  this  scheme,  in  the  minds  and  wishes  of  some  of 
its  contrivers,  an  ultimate  purpose  to  form  a  new  Confederacy, 
of  which  it  shall  be  a  prominent  feature  that  no  free  State  shall 
come  into  the  League.  It  has  grown  into  fashion  of  late  to 
talk  about  slavery  as  "  a  blessing,"  which  is  affirmed  to  be  es 
sential  to  a  prosperous  Democracy.  The  corollary  from  this 
is,  in  a  few  men's  minds — happily  but  few — that  visible  advan 
tage  would  flow  from  a  Confederacy  founded  on  this  essential 


THE  ANNEXATION  OF  TEXAS.  000 

blessing  as  a  fundamental  element.  I  trust  there  are  not  many 
States  in  this  Union  which  will  acquiesce  in  this  logic,  or  place 
their  title  to  democratic  government  upon  such  a  concession. 
I  can  speak  very  confidently  for  Maryland,  that  she  will  not  be 
one.  The  State  that  cherishes  such  a  thought  will  assuredly 
come  to  an  "ill-starred  and  unblest  catastrophe."  I  forbear 
to  expatiate  on  so  revolting  a  theme,  and  fervently  pray  that 
no  such  treason  may  be  meditated. 

What  is  it  that  the  proposition  proposes  to  r<?-annex  1  What 
is  Texas  ?  Is  it  the  territory  bounded  by  the  Colorado — by 
the  Nueces — by  the  Rio  Bravo — or  by  any  still  more  southern 
limit  ?  Is  it  the  whole  intendancy  of  San  Luis  Potosi  ?  Does 
it  reach  to  the  Pacific  ?  Does  it  comprehend  California,  or 
Sonora  ?  Who  can  answer  ?  It  is  all  indefinite  :  there  is  a 
great  question  of  boundary  left.  If  the  annexation  be  made, 
then  there  will  arise  more  discourse  about  other  /-^-annexations 
— Mexico,  Yucatan,  Panama.  Where  will  it  end  ?  This  little 
nation  of  Texas — only  about  the  size  of  France — is  but  the  be 
ginning — a  stepping-stone.  It  would  be  but  justice  to  settle 
the  extent  of  all  future  claims  before  we  conclude  negotiations. 
Are  they  not  purposely  left  indefinite  ? — nest  eggs-for  a  future 
brood  of  claims. 

It  is  a  comfort  to  think  that  this  nefarious  scheme  is  des 
tined  very  soon  to  explode,  and  to  take  its  place  among  the 
thousand  repudiated  follies  of  this  foolish  Administration.  It 
has  but  few  friends  in  the  Senate,  and  when  that  body  have 
rejected  it,  and  the  nation  comes  to  a  calm  estimate  of  the 
event,  there  will  be  a  universal  expression  of  wonder  at  the 
temerity  of  the  men  who  could  so  seriously  trifle  with  the  hon 
or  of  the  country. 

The  project  has  been  sprung  so  suddenly  upon  the  people, 
and  has  been  so  little  considered  in  the  past  time,  that  there 
may  be  said  to  be  no  real  public  opinion  upon  it.  All  are 
taken  by  surprise,  and  many  who  would  abhor  the  scheme 
upon  mature  deliberation  are  now  in  a  state  of  passive  reliance 
upon  the  authorities  here — too  willing,  perhaps,  to  abide  by 
26* 


CIO  POLITICAL    PAPERS. 

the  judgment  of  Congress  on  the  question.  It  was  to  obtain 
this  advantage  that  the  politic  Mr.  Tyler  has  been  so  cunning 
to  keep  the  treaty  secret.  This  is  one  of  those  strokes  of 
statesmanship  that  have  made  our  Polonius  President  so  of 
ten  the  wonder  of  his  times — a  coup  d'etat  by  which  the  sec 
ond-hand  hero  of  the  Vetoes  has  hoped  to  win  that  most  impos 
sible  of  honors,  a  vote  from  some  State  in  favor  of  another 
term.  The  scheme  thus  sets  out  under  the  very  worst  of  con 
ceivable  auspices.  It  would  miscarry  on  that  ground  alone. 

It  is  said  that  a  messenger  has  been  sent  to  Mexico  to  pro 
pose  some  terms  of  accommodation  with  that  Power,  to  buy  out 
her  claim  on  Texas.  If  this  be  true,  what  a  confession  is  it  of 
the  injustice  of  the  treaty  ?  I  think  they  greatly  miscalculate 
the  temper  of  the  Mexican  Government  and  the  disposition  of 
that  people  who  suppose  that  this  overture  will  produce  any 
effect  but  exasperated  defiance.  Perhaps  some  ebullition  of 
such  a  feeling  is  desired  by  the  patrons  of  the  plot  here,  in  the 
hope  of  finding,  in  an  exhibition  of  resentment  from  Mexico, 
a  topic  to  kindle  a  war  fever  on  this  side. 

Has  any  one  counted  the  probable  cost  of  a  war  with  Mex 
ico?  Annexation,  without  the  consent  of  that  Government, 
would  inevitably  involve  us  in  immediate  strife.  She  would 
invade  Texas  without  delay,  and  we  should  be  bound  by  every 
consideration  of  pride  to  protect  our  new  acquisition.  It  cost 
us  thirty  millions  to  expel  a  few  Indians  from  Florida.  Twice 
that  amount  per  annum  would  not  more  than  suffice  to  carry 
on  hostilities  upon  the  remote  plains  of  the  Texian  border  and 
to  defend  ourselves  against  the  privateers  which  would  swarm 
like  mosquitoes  on  the  path  of  our  commerce.  We  should  be 
obliged  to  maintain  armies  by  land  to  pursue  the  alert  and 
sleepless  guerillas  of  the  Mexican  frontier,  and  squadrons  to 
blockade  the  coast.  Fever,  famine,  and  tempest  would  be  all 
on  the  side  of  the  adversary.  Thousands  of  our  troops  would 
perish  ;  many  staunch  ships  would  be  shattered  by  storms, 
wrecked  or  driven  away ;  many  of  our  seamen  overthrown  by 
the  pestilence  of  the  Gulf.  The  treasury  would  be  drained  by 


THE    ANNEXATION    OF    TEXA*.  611 

hordes  of  contractors,  speculators,  and  job-agents,  the  natural 
canker  of  a  war ;  and  at  ihe  end  we  should  come  out  of  the 
contest  loaded  with  debt,  weary  with  disaster,  and  loathing 
every  recollection  of  the  folly  which  had  brought  us  into  such 
a  barren  enterprise.  What  is  not  among  the  least  of  its  mor 
tifications,  we  should  come  out  of  it  without  the  sympathy  of  a 
single  nation  upon  the  globe,  or  even  of  a  single  individual  be 
yond  our  own  confines.  All  the  world  would  watch  the  con 
test  with  a  prepared  smile  at  every  discomfiture  which  might 
befall  us,  with  a  sincere  regret  at  every  success. 

Whence  has  this  scheme  obtained  any  favor?  In  part, 
doubtless,  from  the  affinities  which  subsist  between  our  people 
and  the  settlers  of  Texas.  This  is  natural  and  honorable. 
No  small  share  of  the  favor  it  has  won,  however,  is  to  be  traced 
to  motives  of  sordid  personal  interest.  Upwards  of  sixty 
millions  of  acres  of  private  land  claims,  I  understand,  are  to 
be  recognized  :  ten  millions  of  public  Texian  debt.  The  bond 
holders  and  the  land-scrip  holders  have  interest  enough  to 
make  great  efforts  in  the  cause,  and  to  win  much  influence 
over  the  popular  mind  of  the  country.  It  would  be  much 
cheaper,  perhaps,  and  more  honorable,  for  us  to  pay  all  these 
at  once  out  of  our  own  Treasury,  and  leave  Texas  as  she  is  ; 
since,  by  such  a  course,  we  should  know  the  extent  of  our  losses 
in  the  beginning  and  do  no  violence  to  the  laws  of  nations  or 
the  duty  we  owe  a  friendly  Power.  Why  should  we  embroil 
ourselves  for  the  speculators  in  Texian  lands  or  the  holders  of 
Texian  bonds  ? 

The  influence  of  the  annexation  upon  the  slave  question,  it 
strikes  me,  has  been  very  much  overrated  both  in  the  South 
and  the  North.  I  cannot  see  that  it  would  either  augment  the 
influence  of  the  slave  States  on  the  one  hand,  or  that  the  re 
fusal  to  annex  would  mitigate  the  evil  of  slavery  on  the  other. 
Texas,  in  a  state  of  prosperous  peace,  whether  a  part  of  the 
United  States  or  an  independent  Power,  would,  in  the  long  run, 
equally  attract  emigration  and  settlement  from  the  present  pop 
ulation  of  the  Union  It  will  draw  manv  slaves  alons;  with 


612  POLITICAL  PA  PI-IKS. 

their  proprietors  from  the  Southern  States,  and  with  them  sub 
tract  a  proportionate  amount  of  political  power. 

Every  slave  withdrawn  from  the  present  slave  States  will 
have  his  influence  in  lessening  the  representation  of  the  dis 
trict  from  which  he  goes.  This  career  of  settlement  upon  the 
Gulf  of  Mexico  will  sooner  or  later  convert  Maryland,  Virginia, 
North  Carolina,  Kentucky,  and  perhaps  other  States  into  free 
States.  It  will  break  down  South  Carolina,  weaken  Georgia  and 
Tennessee,  and  probably  reduce  the  value  of  land  in  Alabama, 
Mississippi,  and  Louisiana.  Its  annexation  to  the  Union  can 
do  no  conceivable  good  to  any  of  these  States.  I  cannot, 
therefore,  but  feel  great  surprise  at  the  zeal  for  this  measure 
which  is  said  to  pervade  certain  portions  of  the  South.  Can 
it  be  other  than  the  artificial  excitement  produced  by  a  skilful 
appeal  to  popular  considerations  which  do  not  really  belong  to 
the  subject ;  and  must  not  this  fervor  subside  before  the  more 
deliberate  reflection  of  the  people  ?  A  new  competitor  in  the 
production  of  sugar  and  cotton,  growing  strong  under  the 
stimulus  of  that  eagerness  for  emigration  which  is  a  character 
istic  of  our  people,  and  which,  in  the  first  few  years  after  the 
incorporation  of  Texas,  would  carry  great  numbers  into  the 
new  territory,  we  may  well  imagine  would  raise  up  no  harmless 
antagonist  to  the  present  South ;  while  it  is  quite  apparent,  in 
looking  to  the  effects  of  this  emigration  upon  our  domestic 
commerce,  that  it  would,  in  reality,  add  but  little  to  its  exten 
sion,  since  the  same  consumers  and  producers  would  only  be 
removed  from  one  field  of  employment  to  another.  Exactly  in 
proportion  as  Texas  would  be  strengthened  either  in  political 
power  or  commercial  importance,  other  sections  of  the  Union 
would  be  weakened. 

Another  result  would  follow  the  annexation,  which  would 
disappoint  the  expectations  of  many.  Texas  would  come  into 
the  Confederacy  as  a  territory,  and  the  same  considerations 
which  led  to  the  settlement  of  the  Missouri  question  upon  a 
compromise  between  the  slave  and  free  States,  would,  we  may 
be  persuaded,  be  again  sufficiently  powerful  to  induce  a  similar 


THE   ANNEXATION   OF  TEXAS.  613 

arrangement  of  the  new  acquisition,  by  providing  for  an  equal 
number  of  free  and  slave  States  to  be  carved  out  of  the  terri 
tory.  It  is  even  doubtful  whether,  with  the  present  vote  of  Con 
gress  (still  more  questionable  with  the  vote  after  another  cen 
sus),  there  would  not  be  power  to  settle  this  point  upon  a  basis 
much  more  favorable  to  the  views  of  the  free  States.  In  the 
contemplation  of  such  a  contingency,  I  ask  if  the  inducements 
to  the  annexation,  on  the  part  of  the  South,  are  not  likely  to 
be  greatly  weakened  ? 

It  is  suggested  in  the  English  papers  that  the  cause  of  free 
trade  would  find  a  valuable  ally  in  the  annexation.  There  is 
some  plausibility  in  the  opinion,  that  by  increasing  settlement 
towards  the  tropics  and  extending  the  field  of  our  planting  in 
terests,  many  auxiliaries  would  be  gained  to  Great  Britain 
against  the  protection  of  our  mechanical  industry.  Such  a  be 
lief  may  recommend  this  measure  to  England,  to  some  of  the 
Southern  States,  and  to  all  that  part  of  the  Democracy  who 
have  raised  their  hands  against  the  success  of  the  labor  of  our 
country ;  but  it  will  scarcely  succeed  in  convincing  the  manu 
facturers,  the  mechanics,  and  the  farmers  of  Maryland,  or  of 
any  other  State  friendly  to  domestic  industry,  that  the  measure 
is  in  anywise  to  be  desired  by  them.  And  as  to  the  notion 
that  the  annexation  is  "  indispensable  to  our  security  against 
foreign  aggression,"  or  to  "  the  extension  of  the  domestic  com 
mercial  exchanges  of  our  country"  (as  the  declaration  of  the 
Baltimore  meeting  asserts),  every  one  must  see  that  these  are 
but  phrases  of  commonplace  political  rhetoric,  thrown  in  as 
unmeaning  expletives  to  round  off  a  claptrap  resolution,  and 
intended  merely  as  a  sonorous  prelude  to  that  "  acclamation  " 
which  was  a  prepared  and  expected  part  of  the  programme  of 
the  evening. 

Mr.  Tyler,  it  will  be  seen,  when  the  documents  accompany 
ing  the  treaty  are  published — for  the  injunction  of  secrecy  has 
just  been  removed — has  already  been  making  warlike  prepara 
tions  to  pick  a  quarrel  with  Mexico.  He  is  gathering  troops 
upon  the  bank  of  the  Sabine  and  sending  a  squadron  to  the 


614  POLITICAL  PAPEKS. 

coast.  His  purpose  is  to  intimidate  Mexico.  His  military 
preparations  were  directed  even  before  the  treaty  was  signed. 
It  is  negotiation  at  the  point  of  the  bayonet — Congress,  the  only 
authority  to  declare  war,  being  utterly  ignorant  of  the  whole 
proceeding  until  now.  These  are  the  first  necessary  steps  be 
longing  to  this  peaceable  and  righteous  proceeding — a  threat 
of  war  if  Mexico  should  be  restive.  They  show  us  what  must 
be  the  certain  result  if  the  audacity  which  prompted  this  out 
rage  be  not  checked  by  the  prudence  of  the  Senate.  A  few 
days  more,  and  I  trust  the  whole  plot  will  be  broken  up  and 
rebuked  by  an  overwhelming  vote  for  the  rejection  of  the  treaty. 
There  is  so  much  mischievous  misrepresentation  on  this 
Texas  question,  at  present,  and  so  much  motive  to  give  it  a 
party  character,  that  the  public  mind  has  but  little  chance  to 
be  set  entirely  right  in  its  estimate  of  the  subject  until  the  Pres 
idential  election  is  out  of  the  way.  I  scarcely  doubt,  when 
that  shall  be  the  case,  that  three-fourths  of  the  people  will  take 
a  decided  ground  against  the  scheme  in  any  shape.  They  will 
agree,  I  think,  that  we  have  territory  enough  to  satisfy  our 
reasonable  wants  for  the  next  half  century,  and  that,  if  after 
that  period  we  should  feel  pressed  for  elbow-room,  the  genera 
tions  who  may  suffer  this  inconvenience  will  be  quite  able  to 
take  care  of  themselves,  somewhere  between  the  North  Pole 
and  Terra  del  Fuego.  They  will  hardly  thank  us  for  such  a 
trifling  cantlet  as  Texas. 

Very  truly,  yours,  J.  P.  KENNEDY. 


THE     END. 


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